SCOTLAND vs WALES
Venue: Murrayfield
Kick-off: 16:45 GMT
Referee: Matthew Carley (England)
Assistant Referees: Pascal Gauzere (France), Andrea Piardi (Italy)
TMO: Karl Dickson (England)
Scotland will be in buoyant mood after their success over England last week and, with Wales not at full strength, all the ingredients are there for a comfortable Scotland win.
Though we think they will get the job done, Scotland should be wary of any complacency.
Scotland only earned their first win over Wales in 18 years three months ago as the Coronavirus-affected when the sides met in a delayed final game of last season’s competition.
As Scotland were seeing off England, in the process becoming the only side not to concede a try in the opening round of the 2021 competition, Wales overcame Ireland 21-16 in Cardiff, so both sides come into the clash with reason to be cheerful, however, the way Stuart Hogg and co. are playing, they have a great chance to make it back-to-back wins over the Welsh in Saturday’s second fixture.
The team news sees Scotland’s Jamie Ritchie, Sean Maitland and Cameron Redpath ruled out through injury. Blade Thomson, James Lang and Darcy Graham take their places.
For Wales, George North and Johnny Williams are amongst five players who are unavailable through injury, so a new midfield pairing is set to take the stage tomorrow i nthe form of Nick Tompkins and Owen Watkin.
Liam Williams will replace Hallam Amos on the wing, and Gareth Davies comes in for Tomos Williams at scrum-half, while Aaron Wainwright takes the number six jersey in place of Josh Navidi.
Six Nations Predictions – Scotland vs Wales: Scotland by 3 (9-6).
Sir Clive Woodward: “If last week’s Calcutta Cup game against England was huge for Scotland, this evening’s match against Wales is even bigger. If Scotland replicate their 80 minutes excellence of last week, I think Wales are there for the taking.”