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Wales Storms Back to Stun Scotland in Six Nations; France Stakes Claim With Ireland Rout
Julian Guyer | February 14, 2010

Wing Shane Williams celebrating in front of a home crowd after rescuing Wales with a try against Scotland in the dying seconds of their Six Nations match in Cardiff on Saturday. (AP Photo) Wing Shane Williams celebrating in front of a home crowd after rescuing Wales with a try against Scotland in the dying seconds of their Six Nations match in Cardiff on Saturday. (AP Photo)
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Cardiff. Wales captain Ryan Jones warned his side it had to tighten its defense to maintain its Six Nations revival after a dramatic 34-21 victory over Scotland.

Saturday’s stunning success at Millennium Stadium saw Wales come from 10 points down with four minutes left to win after an astonishing 17-point burst featuring tries from wings Leigh Halfpenny and Shane Williams, separated by a penalty from Stephen Jones.

For much of the match, with Scotland fly-half Dan Parks pulling the strings with assured tactical kicking and sound distribution, Wales was on the back foot.

It was caught cold when Scotland, which had failed to score a try in five of its previous six tests, twice touched down on its way to building a 15-3 lead by the 23rd minute.

That Wales came back against a Scotland side searching for a first away win in the Six Nations since 2006 was to its credit.

But its captain was well aware of the dangers of making such a sluggish start against France, Wales’s next opponent, which will come to Cardiff on Feb. 26 chasing a grand slam after thrashing defending champion Ireland 33-10 in Paris on Saturday.

“We’ve got to get our own house in order and cut out the silly mistakes,” Ryan Jones said.

His words were echoed by Wales coach Warren Gatland, who said: “We’ve got a few things to work on, particularly our start. The big thing about the first half was we conceded a couple of tries; we didn’t dominate the collisions defensively.”

In its tournament opener against England, Wales was down 20-3 before rallying to lose 30-17.

Gatland knows that while his team will continue to delight neutral fans with bold counterattacks when its back is against the wall, that is not a policy for consistent success.

“It is a bit of a concern that we’re not getting out of the blocks as fast as we want,” he said. “We’re putting too much pressure on ourselves. That was our worst performance defensively for a long time.”

Just as Wales was made to pay for the yellow card shown to Alun-Wyn Jones in its defeat by England, so, too, did Scotland suffer for the sin-binnings in the closing stages of Scott Lawson and Phil Godman that saw the visitors finish the match with 13 men.

When Ryan Jones decided to let Stephen Jones take the penalty that tied the game at 24, there was barely 60 seconds left and seemingly no time left for Wales to fashion a winning score.

But all those Welsh fans in a crowd of more than 74,000 were rejoicing moments later when Williams completed a sweeping move with the astonishing match-clinching try.

“Decisions like that you live and die by,” Ryan Jones said. “It’s a huge relief when it pays off, but any more like that and I will be as gray as Warren.”

France stole a march on its Six Nations rivals by ending Ireland’s 12-match unbeaten run.

William Servat and Yannick Jauzion pounced for first-half tries while Irish prop Cian Healy was in the sin-bin, with Clement Poitrenaud scoring a third just after the break.

Clermont scrum half Morgan Parra kicked 15 points for the French, converting all three tries to go with two penalties and a drop goal.

  Rugby

Agence France-Presse