Wales 31 Scotland 24:WALES ARE on some journey in this Six Nations. Alun Wyn Jones's footwork proved costly in the first round at Twickenham; Lee Byrne's tumble in the final minute on Saturday turned defeat into victory; and then the flanker Andy Powell celebrated that unlikely success by allegedly going for a trip in a golf buggy near the M4 at 6am before ending up in a police cell.
Scotland, who led from the ninth minute until the last one, were furious at the manner of their defeat, with two players having been sent to the sin-bin in the frantic final eight minutes.
Their replacement hooker, Scott Lawson, was suitably rewarded for mindlessly piling over a ruck on the halfway line but Phil Godman’s banishment a minute from the end was harsh. Wales were trailing by three points when Byrne kicked ahead. Godman jumped in the air for a charge-down and Byrne went down as if tripped and won a penalty. Godman, one of three backs brought on because of injuries, was sent to the sin-bin, leaving his side with 13 men.
There were 40 seconds left on the countdown clock. The Wales captain, Ryan Jones, checked there was sufficient time for a restart and opted to kick at goal. When Stephen Jones tied the scores with the penalty, there were 14 seconds left; by the time Mike Blair, a scrumhalf given the responsibility because Dan Parks and Chris Paterson were off the field and Godman was on the sidelines, took the restart, the match clock showed 14 seconds over the 80. Blair kicked it to Byrne: 11 passes, one cross-kick and seven phases later, Shane Williams dived under the posts to give his side a victory which, while a reward for perseverance, made for a travesty of a result.
“I felt Byrne dived,” said the Scotland coach, Andy Robinson. “Phil told me that he asked for a bit of honesty.”
Godman said he did not trip Byrne. “I jumped up to try and get the ball,” he said. “There was no malice at all. He milked it. I did not stick my foot out and trip him; he put himself into my body.”
Parks summed it up in one word: “Injustice.”
Byrne disagreed. “The video evidence will show it was a trip,” he said. “I kicked the ball through and Phil left his left foot there. I don’t know about a sin-bin but it was a penalty.”
Byrne was a central figure. He scored his side’s first try, helped create the second, started the move which led to the winner and was the player the Scotland wing, Thom Evans, ran into to suffer a serious neck injury which required surgery after the game.
“Thom’s head smashed into my pelvic bone in a big collision,” said Byrne, who inadvertently put his knee on the wing’s neck as he tried to get to his feet.
Scotland led from the moment John Barclay broke the tackles of Gareth Cooper and James Hook to score after eight minutes. Max Evans’s try at the end of the first quarter put them 15-3 ahead; they led 18-9 at the interval and 24-14 as the game entered stoppage time.
They mixed up their game cleverly, marshalled by Parks, who returned after 15 months in the international wilderness. They would have had a third try had Sean Lamont not passed forward to Kelly Brown, although Chris Cusiter had put foot on the touchline in the build-up. It would have put the Scots 28-9 ahead. By the end it was not just the yellow cards that hurt the Scots but the accumulation of injuries that led to their wings being patrolled by a scrum-half and a flanker.
Robinson has to find a fit back line for Rome in the next round with Thom Evans, Paterson and Rory Lamont out. Wales have the little matter of France in Cardiff a week on Friday: this dramatic denouement should not deflect from deficiencies in their defence and attack, where decision-making too often bordered on the delusional here.
Hook and Jamie Roberts look the wrong way round in the centre, Mike Phillips’s return at scrumhalf cannot come soon enough and Powell does not have the same impact at number six that he does at eight in a backrow that lacks balance. Their lineout was again suspect. They are, as exemplified by the incomparable Shane Williams, a team of individuals but they recognise their defects. “If we repeat the first 60 minutes against France there will be no coming back,” said Roberts.
Wales need to stop tripping themselves up.
WALES: Byrne; Halfpenny, Hook, J Roberts, S Williams; S Jones, Cooper; P James, G Williams, A Jones, Thomas, A Jones, Powell, M Williams, R Jones. Replacements: R Rees for Cooper (41), Jenkins for P James (49), Bennett for G Williams (49), B Davies for Powell (49), Warburton for M Williams (68). Not used: Bishop, Shanklin.
SCOTLAND: Paterson; T Evans, S Lamont, Morrison, R Lamont; Parks, Cusiter; Dickinson, Ford, Murray, Hamilton, Kellock, Brown, Barclay, Beattie. Replacements: M Evans for Paterson (30), Blair for T Evans (36), Godman for R Lamont (73), MacDonald for Parks (79), Jacobsen for Dickinson (57), S Lawson for Ford (59), R Gray for Hamilton (78). Sinbin: S Lawson (74), Godman (80).
Referee: George Clancy (IRFU).
