Wales hunting Triple Crown at HQ
WALES (27) vs SCOTLAND (13)
WALES coach Warren Gatland toasted his team’s maturity after they went top of the Six Nations table and set up a Triple Crown meeting with England at Twickenham. Two tries from Leigh Halfpenny, whose expert kicking saw him finish with 22 points, and another from wing Alex Cuthbert on his home debut blitzed Scotland, who replied through Greg Laidlaw, after half-time.
It means the World Cup semi-finalists will visit England on 25 February looking to clinch the Triple Crown and take another major step towards deposing the reigning champions.
And Gatland paid tribute to his team’s ability to dispatch Scotland despite missing captain Sam Warburton, who failed a late fitness test, and lock Bradley Davies, banned for a tip tackle against Ireland last week.
“That is a sign of the maturity of this team at the moment,” said the New Zealander. “They can handle these disruptions and it doesn’t seem to affect them psychologically, they just go out and play the game.”
Scotland, narrowly beaten by England in their opening fixture, held Wales to 3-3 at the interval but had both Nick de Luca and Rory Lamont sin-binned as Wales tore into them after the break.