The opening weekend of the 2024 Six Nations Championship will draw to a close on Saturday evening when Wales take on Scotland at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.
Wales finished fifth in last year's edition of this competition, while Scotland matched their best-ever finish in a Six Nations tournament, ending in third place behind Ireland and France.
Match preview
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Under Warren Gatland, Wales have made strides forward over the last 12 months and have become a tactical side that has made something of a habit of transforming games into strategic on-field battles.
Despite finishing fifth in the previous year's championship, they showed potential in the World Cup, where they put together an admirable run that concluded with a quarter-final exit and was highlighted by a record-breaking 40-6 victory over Australia.
However, the Dragons were handed a major setback just hours before the final team selection when it was announced that Gloucester winger Louis Rees-Zammit would be leaving rugby union to play in the NFL.
While winning the Six Nations this year may prove to be a step too far for Wales, history is on their side, as two of their previous four Grand Slam-winning campaigns came in years that followed World Cups (2008 and 2012).
Expectations for Wales in this competition will largely depend on the outcome of this match. A victory would take the side to Twickenham with confidence high for the next weekend, but a loss would likely mean they can expect a challenging battle in London.
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Meanwhile, in the 2023 Six Nations campaign, Scotland kicked off in impressive fashion, securing a Calcutta Cup victory at Twickenham before achieving a record-breaking win against Wales, marking the first time they won their opening two matches in a campaign.
Losses to France and Ireland followed, and while they were heavily fancied to win their final match against Italy, they made hard work of it and came perilously close to throwing it away in the final minutes.
Drawn against formidable opponents in South Africa and Ireland, Scotland faced an uphill battle to advance beyond the pool stage at the World Cup, and unfortunately, they came up short in what was widely considered the pool of death in the competition.
However, there are numerous positive aspects to appreciate about the Scots. Under Gregor Townsend, Scotland have improved when packing down and have been one of the most effective teams at moving the ball wide, which is unsurprising with the likes of Duhan van der Merwe and Darcy Graham bombing down the flanks.
Still, the manner in which they were defeated with reasonable ease by both South Africa and Ireland at the World Cup does not inspire too much confidence in their hopes of challenging for the title, especially with three of their five games this season scheduled to be played on the road.
Wales form (all competitions):
- L
- W
- W
- W
- W
- L
Scotland form (all competitions):
- L
- W
- L
- W
- W
- L
Team News
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For the upcoming Six Nations clash against Scotland, Gatland has included two uncapped players in the squad in full-back Cameron Winnett and forward Alex Mann, who have both been named in the starting lineup for the match.
Due to an injury, George North is unavailable, and lock Will Rowlands is yet to join the squad due to family reasons. Consequently, Sam Costelow steps in at fly-half with Dan Biggar now retired from international rugby.
The team is predominantly composed of inexperienced players, but there are pockets of proven quality with the presence of Nick Tompkins at centre, Josh Adams on the wing and Gareth Davies at scrum-half.
As Scotland heads to Cardiff, they will have to contend with the absence of full-back Blair Kinghorn and co-captain Rory Darge due to injuries. Kinghorn is expected to miss at least the first two matches of the tournament.
In the absence of Darge, former captain Jamie Ritchie transitions to the openside, while the talented Luke Crosbie takes up the blindside position and Matt Fagerson completes the Scottish back-row.
In the back three, Kyle Rowe steps in to fill Kinghorn's position at full-back, despite having started there only once at the professional level, and he will join forces with Kyle Steyn and Duhan van der Merwe in the backline.
Wales starting lineup: 15. Cameron Winnett, 14. Josh Adams, 13. Owen Watkin, 12. Nick Tompkins, 11. Rio Dyer, 10. Sam Costelow, 9. Gareth Davies, 8. Aaron Wainwright, 7. Tommy Reffell, 6. James Botham, 5. Adam Beard, 4. Dafydd Jenkins (c), 3. Leon Brown, 2. Ryan Elias, 1. Corey Domachowski
Replacements: 16. Elliot Dee, 17. Kemsley Mathias, 18. Keiron Assiratti, 19. Teddy Williams, 20. Alex Mann, 21. Tomos Williams, 22. Ioan Lloyd, 23. Mason Grady
Scotland starting lineup: 15. Kyle Rowe, 14. Kyle Steyn, 13. Huw Jones, 12. Sione Tuipulotu, 11. Duhan van der Merwe, 10. Finn Russell (c), 9. Ben White, 8. Matt Fagerson, 7. Jamie Ritchie, 6. Luke Crosbie, 5. Scott Cummings, 4. Richie Gray, 3. Zander Fagerson, 2. George Turner, 1. Pierre Schoeman
Replacements: 16. Ewan Ashman, 17. Alec Hepburn, 18. Elliot Millar-Mills, 19. Sam Skinner, 20. Jack Dempsey, 21. George Horne, 22. Ben Healy, 23. Cameron Redpath
We say: Wales 24-21 Scotland
Scotland ran out as comfortable winners (35-7) at Murrayfield last year and will be looking for another big performance in Cardiff this week. However, Wales have an excellent record against the Scots at the Millennium Stadium and have won their last 11 matches against them at this venue. This match really could go either way, but we are backing the Dragons to pull off a first-round upset.
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Devesh Jaganath
