Wales v Scotland:Scotland arrived in Cardiff yesterday seeking redemption after expectations last Sunday against France at Murrayfield turned to recriminations following the direst of displays. But if they are to prevail against a side buoyed by a first victory at Twickenham for 20 years, they will need to overcome a wretched away record in the Six Nations.
Scotland's preparations were not helped yesterday when the wing Simon Webster withdrew after straining a hamstring during training. Chris Paterson moves to the flank from fullback where Hugo Southwell returns to the side. Ulster's Simon Danielli has been called up to the bench.
Since the Six Nations started in 2000 Scotland have won three matches out of 20 on the road, two of the successes coming in Rome. The other was in Cardiff six years ago and they have lost 11 of their last 12 away fixtures.
Much has been made of Scotland's preference for underdog status after the failure to cope with a high level of expectation against a relatively inexperienced France side but it is something that appears to come into play only at Murrayfield.
Wales have too often become complacent after defeating England but their head coach Warren Gatland's debrief after Twickenham concentrated on the areas where Wales were weak a week ago.
"There was no pressure last week, no expectation last week. But a poor performance tomorrow would undo all the good that was achieved last week," said Gatland.
"There's a heck of a lot of pressure accepting favouritism, the expectations of the public, the press, the fans and everyone else. The players are pretty aware of that.
"We are playing against a team that were expected to beat France last week. They are a bit like a wounded animal, with their backs to the wall. These guys know how dangerous teams are when they have got their backs to the wall.
"Wales lost against Italy away last year and then the following week beat England here at home. We've spoken a lot about those things."
Wales were hanging on either side of the interval at Twickenham, fortunate that the replacement flanker Alix Popham was not sent to the sinbin for killing the ball near his own line, and they were well served by injuries to both of England's openside flankers.
Wales had been muscled out of it at the breakdown and they creaked in the set-pieces but they eventually managed to break up the game and force mistakes.
Scotland lack Wales's enterprise and pace behind the scrum but they are resourceful in the set-piece and combative at the tackle area.
The tighter the game the better it will suit them, especially with Paterson, one of the most accurate kickers in the game, back in the starting line-up.
While Wales emphasised defence at Twickenham, they will be expected to take the game to Scotland and Gatland has tweaked the team to give it a more attacking hue.
James Hook and Gavin Henson both started to run the game against England when Tom Shanklin came on to replace Sonny Parker and the more vocal Shanklin will start this afternoon.
"We have to believe in each other," said the Scotland captain, Jason White. "We did well in the World Cup and we have to show what happened against France was down to a bad day not a bad side. Wales will be full of confidence but we will have a real go.
"We have to dominate the set-pieces and the breakdown and defend hard to give us a chance to play. If we do, we will have a great chance of winning."
Wales have recorded back-to-back victories in only one of the last six Six Nations, when they won the grand slam in 2005, and today will offer a greater pointer to where they stand than Twickenham where, despite a strong finish and a maturity that was missing at the World Cup, they should have been chasing a lost cause.
They will miss Alun-Wyn Jones in the lineout and their scrum will be tested by a Scottish eight that troubled France.
England at times exposed defects built up during Wales's failures since 2005, and especially in the World Cup, but Scotland look less well equipped to exploit weaknesses. And they are on the road.
Guardian Service
