Scotland v Wales, RBS 6 Nations, 9 March 2013
Report and Photos – John Preece
There were high hopes that Scotland could take the match to complete their first ‘three-in-a-row’ run of wins in the 6 Nations Championship. However, it wasn’t to be, and in a match which saw more penalty attempts on goal than in any other International match in history – according to Scottish Rugby website – and a lot – A LOT – of fairly aimless kicking, the Welsh visitors took the match 28 points to 18.
Leigh Halfpenny opened the scoring with less than three minutes on the clock to put Wales in front and that was to set the tone for the match. With the scrums providing endless opportunities for the kickers to have a go at the posts, the only try of the match was scored by Richard Hibbard from a rolling maul after 22 minutes (pictured), Halfpenny breaking a run of three misses to score with the conversion attempt.
Wales went in to the break 13-12 to the good, with Greg Laidlaw looking like Scotland’s only salvation in the points scoring game, keeping the home side in touch all the way through.
The second half wasn’t any better and the continued round of collapsed scrums, offsides and strange calls from referee, Craig Joubert, carried on the kicking duel between Halfpenny and Laidlaw. Scotland supporters were only lifted momentarily late on when an assault on the Welsh line was held up and the affair ended with a wee staring/pushing match between Sean Lamont and a couple of Welsh forwards following a perceived late tackle on Halfpenny.
And that, as they say, was that. A rather disappointing match in terms of open, running play – something both teams have been famous for in the past – with neither team looking like a try scoring ‘machine’ and a capacity crowd being ‘treated’ to an old style match i.e. one before the era of the five-point try, introduced to encourage open, running rugby and try scoring. Not much else to say, really…
Web – http://www.photoboxgallery.com/jlp-photography
Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
