Wales v Scotland, Tomorrow, 3.00:  Wales's players shut up earlier this week, but tomorrow they have to put up. By observing the omerta called by their captain Gareth Thomas after he objected to the presence at a media conference of the journalist who ghosted Gavin Henson's biography last year, the squad need to do their talking on the pitch against a resurgent Scotland in Cardiff.

The episode showed the players march to Thomas's beat. An unexpected choice when made captain last season, he has moulded the squad in his own image: the team is everything. By revealing incidents reflecting badly on some colleagues, Henson smashed the captain's code to pieces.

Thomas was not singled out in Henson's book but he was the most indignant at its revelatory tone and arranged the November meeting when the centre had to explain himself to the squad and, after hostile questioning, promise there would be no repeat.

So when Thomas read last Saturday's programme notes penned by Henson's ghost, championing outspokenness and those swimming against the current, he was furious.

Henson next week returns from a 51-day ban, but he will be recalled only if he satisfies not just the team management but Thomas that he is prepared to conform to the squad ethos.

Like the lead character in Albert Camus's The Outsider, Henson is lacking in hypocrisy and will not fit comfortably into a straitjacket. A resounding win by Wales tomorrow would diminish the need for Henson's recall, even though his inside centre position has not been filled adequately.

What appeared a home banker has, after Wales's collapse against England and Scotland's inspired victory over France, become too close to call.

Scotland have a poor record in the championship since winning it in 1999 and they have lost their last seven away games. Yet Wales opened last year's tournament after unimpressive results. Little was expected of them, and they stole away on the blind side.

"I said before the start everyone should keep an eye on Scotland," said Thomas. "Like us last year, they are showing that if you take them lightly you can come unstuck, as France did. It's going to be a dangerous game for us and we will need to show more nous, combining the elements of power and flair and recognising there is more than one way of playing."

Wales last weekend needed a Henson to kick them into position and ball-carriers to commit more defenders to the breakdown. Scotland will not have England's resources on the bench, but they are able to attack Wales's lineout as effectively and challenge a defence that has been suspect this season. Win or lose, their coach Mike Ruddock will have problems to wrestle with.