Six Nations: Wales wins battle of the boot to beat Scotland

The game was dominated by the kickers, with many penalities being conceded by both sides.

A dominant Welsh scrum put the Scots under pressure early on, resulting in a penalty under the posts within the first five minutes of the game – duly converted by fullback Leigh Halfpenny.

However, a penalty off the restart for Scotland meant the scores were equal two minutes later. Another penalty minutes later put the Scots in front.

The usually reliable Halfpenny then missed three back-to-back penalty kicks. But in the 20th minute a surge from George North (pictured below) broke through the Scottish line, before eventually being tackled just in front of the line. The following pressure from the forwards enabled Richard Hibbard to scramble over for the first, and only, try of the game.

Halfpenny, perhaps with the pressure off following the pooints, then converted. However, a long penalty kick from Laidlaw brought the gap between the two teams to one point.

At the end of the half two penalties, one for Scotland and one for Wales, meant Wales went into half time marginally ahead of their rivals.

Second half

Just after the break Scotland missed out on taking the lead after Greig Laidlaw failed to find the distance from a penalty. Another penalty, in which Scotland was penalised for sealing off a ruck, meant Halfpenny extended Wales’s lead by a further three points.

But the gap was reduced to one point minutes later when another penalty was converted by Laidlaw. Wales then won the next penalty – converted by Halfpenny to make the scores Wales 19, Scotland 15.

Another penalty to Wales extended their leaqd to seven points, and with 20 minutes left of the game Scotand put the pressure back on, again by converting a penalty.

With his next penalty, Halfpenny secured another three points for his team. That penalty brought the number of scored penalties in a match to a new Six Nations record of 12.

In the 71st minute another penalty, for Wales, put the Welsh team ten points in front – meaning Scotland needed more than a converted try to have any chance of winning the match – in a game which had been sparse in terms of attacking rugby.

With six minutes left a break from Scotland put pressure on the Welsh line. Searching for a try, the Scottish attacked the Welsh line, but the defence was too good and the pressure was revealed when the Scots conceded a penalty.

With only a couple of minutes left, Wales held on to secure the win by 28 points to 18. The win means the final weekend will see QWales take on England for the title. The severity of such a task will depend heavily on whether or not England triump against Italy on Sunday.