Wales face uphill task after opening round defeat
And like it has been in the past three Women's Six Nations, Scotland edged out Wales in a close and gritty Cardiff encounter. It was a welcome four points on the board for the Scots as they prepare to face world champions England at Murrayfield next Saturday, while Wales, who salvaged a losing bonus point, have the daunting prospect of hosting France at Cardiff Arms Park. England and France cruised to bonus-point wins over Ireland and Italy on the opening weekend and, if history is anything to go by, will be battling it out for the Grand Slam on the final weekend in Le Crunch.
For Wales, victory on Saturday was an even more important aim given they have away trips to England and Ireland after the visit of France - two games where it will be very difficult for a side ranked 12th in the world to pick up points. But defeat means, as in the 2024 and 2025 tournaments, it could all come down to the final game against Italy, with Wales this time having home advantage. Before we look too far ahead, lets take stock of what went wrong and what went right for Wales against Scotland.
In the opening 30 minutes at Principality Stadium, Wales were unrecognisable from the side that crashed out of the World Cup last summer. Defensively they were coming hard and fast off the line, making dominant tackles and Scotland could do very little. The players have clearly bought into the systems of new defence coach Tyrone Holmes.
Wales also showed more variation in attack, got the ball out to the wider channels and looked threatening, especially with ball in hand. But their bid to be an 80-minute team fell short as energy levels dwindled after the break, with player of the match Helen Nelson pulling the strings at fly-half for Scotland. She slotted a kick in behind for Shona Campbell's try, while debutant Seren Singleton and Kayleigh Powell were left to rue letting the ball bounce.
Meryl Smith also put in a perfect kick for Lucia Scott's try, while in comparison Wales' kicking game was poor, something head coach Sean Lynn admits they will be looking at for next week. Their set-piece could also do with tightening up after a few line-out wobbles in what had been promising positions. But credit to Wales, after going 24-12 down, they came back into the contest largely thanks to the impact of their bench, with line breaks from Donna Rose and Seren Lockwood setting up Kate Williams' try.