Scotland draw little solace

Wales wore the smiles of victors while Scotland bore the demeanour of losers, yet it was the Welsh who allowed a 19-point lead to be eroded in the second half with the home side salvaging an unlikely draw with two tries in the final five minutes.

For the Wales coach Graham Henry, who had been under intense public pressure after the opening-day thrashing by England, avoiding defeat meant the buying of time while Scotland could look forward to the pleasure of a visit to Twickenham.

"It was definitely a point lost," said the Scotland captain Andy Nicol. "It was a point," said Henry laconically. Both had a point.

Scotland were poor in the first half and inspired in the second, a reverse of their match in Paris two weeks before. Wales were limited in their ambition, using Neil Jenkins' boot to build up a lead, and they created little in attack: their one try came from an interception.

Henry's relief afterwards was palpable, but though Wales had improved in certain areas, most notably in the tackle area, they remained suspect in defence and kept their line intact in the first half only because of an alarming number of unforced errors by the Scots.

"This match was all about character," said the Wales captain David Young. "Things got so bad after the England game that I had to ask the players not to read the newspapers or watch television otherwise they would come to believe they were not good enough to play international rugby."

Scotland missed the attacking flair of Gregor Townsend at outside-half. For all Duncan Hodge's virtues - and he created their second try by holding the ball up long enough for James McLaren to work out a way through his opposite number Mark Taylor to set up a grandstand finish - his more prosaic style meant that the focal point of the home side's attacks had to come out wide and for a long while it looked as if their poor passing and anxiety would let them down.

Hodge was not given the goal-kicking responsibility until the end, even though Kenny Logan had kicked only four goals out of eight attempts with none of his misses coming from improbable positions.

It was a surprise when Logan was given the first kick after only four minutes, 25 metres out on the left. He had just been clattered off the ball by the Wales flanker Colin Charvis and had needed attention for a cut head.

Scotland were penalised regularly for going to ground at the breakdown while Wales have conceded only 19 penalties in their opening two championship games, their match average last year. The home side's indiscipline allowed Wales to dominate territorially in the opening half, but their route to the scoreboard lay in penalties and dropped goals.

Jenkins had dropped only five goals in 81 internationals for Wales before Saturday, but he landed three in the opening 24 minutes and saw a fourth dip under the bar as the visitors pursued a simple but effective game plan based on keeping mistakes to a minimum and playing for position.

Scotland were forced to run in the second half because Taylor's 43rd-minute try put Wales 25-6 ahead and because Logan's boot had been far less effective than Jenkins' but their three tries owed as much to defensive lapses as attacking inspiration, with the fullback Rhys Williams, who had been called into the Wales side the day before the match, twice at fault.

Scotland's final try was scored by the prop Tom Smith, who appeared on the left wing and sold a dummy on a 20-metre sprint to the line.

Scotland: Paterson (Edinburgh); C Murray (Edinburgh; Craig, Glasgow, 67min), McLaren (Glasgow), J Leslie (Northampton), Logan (Wasps); Hodge (Edinburgh), Nicol (Glasgow, capt); Smith (Brive), G Bulloch (Glasgow), Stewart (Northampton; McIlwham, Glasgow, 50), S Murray (Saracens), Metcalfe (Edinburgh; Grimes, Newcastle, 67), M Leslie (Edinburgh), Pountney (Northampton), Petrie (Glasgow).

Wales: R Williams (Cardiff); M Jones (Llanelli), Taylor (Swansea), Gibbs (Swansea), James (Llanelli); Jenkins (Cardiff), Howley (Cardiff; Moon, Llanelli, 61); Morris (Swansea), McBryde (Llanelli), Young (Cardiff, capt; John, Cardiff, 80), Gough (Newport), Moore (Swansea), Charvis (Swansea), M Williams (Cardiff), S Quinnell (Llanelli).

Referee: S Lander (England).