Wales travel to Murrayfield to face Scotland today (4.45pm kick-off) as they look bounce to back from their nightmare start to this year’s Guinness Six Nations.
Warren Gatland’s side was humbled by a rampant Ireland on the opening day, conceding three tries in the first 20 minutes of a bruising first half as they fell to a 34-10 defeat at the Principality Stadium.
For hosts Scotland, however, the first round couldn’t have gone much better as they recorded a third consecutive win over England in the Calcutta Cup, with Duhan van der Merwe scoring a stunning solo try before grabbing another with just minutes remaining to seal a 29-23 victory.
Gatland, however, has never lost to Scotland as Wales boss, while Gregor Townsend’s side has only won two of their last 16 matches against Wales, with their last victory coming in October 2020 when they ran out 14-10 winners at Parc y Scarlets. The last time the two teams met at Murrayfield in 2021, a thrilling game saw Wales edge 14-man Scotland to a 25-24 win, with Louis Rees-Zammit scoring two tries.
The Wales coach has made a number of big changes to the side that lost to Ireland a week ago, with Justin Tipuric and Alun Wyn Jones both dropped while Taulupe Faletau is named on the bench and replaced by Jac Morgan at No. 8. Christ Tshiunza makes his Six Nations debut at blindside, with Tommy Reffell at openside, while Dafydd Jenkins makes his first start for Wales at lock and Wyn Jones returns at loosehead.
Meanwhile, Townsend has made one change to his starting line-up, drafting in Zander Fagerson while fellow tighthead prop WP Nel moves to the bench.
But before the Murrayfield encounter, we have a potential title decider in Ireland v France at 2.15 pm.
Scotland vs Wales is being broadcast live on BBC One and S4C, but if you can’t get in front of the box, stay with us for all the build-up and live match updates in our live blog below.
Scotland: 15. Stuart Hogg; 14. Kyle Steyn, 13. Huw Jones, 12. Sione Tuipulotu, 11. Duhan van der Merwe; 10. Finn Russell, 9. Ben White; 1. Pierre Schoeman, 2. George Turner, 3. Zander Fagerson 4. Richie Gray, 5. Grant Gilchrist, 6. Jamie Ritchie (capt), 7. Luke Crosbie, 8. Matt Fagerson.
Replacements: 16. Fraser Brown, 17. Jamie Bhatti, 18. WP Nel, 19. Jonny Gray, 20. Jack Dempsey, 21. George Horne, 22. Blair Kinghorn, 23. Chris Harris.
Wales: 15. Liam Williams, 14. Josh Adams, 13. George North, 12. Joe Hawkins, 11. Rio Dyer, 10. Dan Biggar, 9. Tomos Williams, 1. Wyn Jones, 2. Ken Owens (capt), 3. Dillon Lewis, 4. Dafydd Jenkins, 5. Adam Beard, 6. Christ Tshiunza, 7. Tommy Reffell, 8. Jac Morgan.
Replacements: 16. Scott Baldwin, 17. Rhys Carre, 18. Leon Brown, 19. Rhys Davies, 20. Taulupe Faletau, 21. Rhys Webb, 22. Rhys Patchell, 23. Alex Cuthbert.
Warren Gatland named a new-look team for Wales’ trip to Murrayfield, with legends Justin Tipuric and Alun Wyn Jones dropped from the squad and the talismanic Taulupe Faletau moved to the bench.
Faletau is replaced by Jac Morgan at No. 8, while Christ Tshiunza makes his Six Nations debut at blindside. Tommy Reffel is at openside, while Dafydd Jenkins makes his first start for Wales at lock.
