Wales coach Warren Gatland makes just one change to his starting line-up for Saturday’s Six Nations match against Scotland at Murrayfield for the Doddie Weir Cup. The Welsh are bidding for a 13th successive victory to keep their Grand Slam and Triple Crown hopes on track and replace the injured Cory Hill with Adam Beard. Jake Ball will take the place of the Ospreys’ lock on the bench.
Scotland v Wales Current Best Match Odds
Scotland 7/4, Draw 22/1, Wales 4/6 (Odds correct at 2.45pm March 6)
Scotland Team News and Form
Scotland’s Six Nations campaign has been hampered by injuries to key players and Sean Maitland and Chris Harris are now also on the treatment table and ruled out of Saturday’s Six Nations clash with Wales at Murrayfield. Gregor Townsend’s men had already been struggling to cope with the loss of full-back Stuart Hogg and are deserving underdogs against the Welsh having already lost at home to Ireland and against France in Paris. They weren’t disgraced in either game but will want to end the Six Nations campaign with at least one more victory to add to their defeat of Italy, especially with a World Cup looming large on the horizon. Greig Laidlaw starts on the bench but flanker Hamish Watson and prop William Nel return from injury along with Finn Russell and they’ll be striving to give home fans something to cheer about.
Wales Team News and Form
Having already beaten France, Italy and England, confidence will be sky-high in the Welsh camp. The win over a strong England side in Cardiff was a real eye-opener and Wales have also beaten Australia and South Africa in the last six months. Gatland’s team are now favourites for the Six Nations title and will be looking to Gareth Anscombe to rack up the points with his boot at Murrayfield if, as expected, Wales’ marauding forwards put pressure on the Scots’pack. Liam Williams is proving a revelation at full-back for the Welsh but it shouldn’t be forgotten that all of their best performances in their winning run have come at Cardiff so it could be risky investing maximum stakes on another Wales win.
Scotland v Wales Head-to-Heads
Scotland won the last Six Nations match between the sides at Murrayfield but Wales had won the previous four and have only lost twice in Edinburgh since 2003, though the Scots have won 33 compared to Wales’ 22 in the fixture overall. Scotland have averaged less than one try per game against Wales since Warren Gatland took charge.
Scotland v Wales Predictions
The Welsh defence is formidable and they are the only team in this season’s Six Nations who have maintained a tackle completion rate over 90 per cent. The away team have also conceded the equal fewest penalties in the first three rounds on this year’s tournament so are disciplined. The Welsh line-out can be hit-and-miss but so can the Scots’. Wales’ back-line looks superior to the that of the injury-hit Scots and that could be the crucial factor but the visitors aren’t particularly fast-starters so a punt on Scotland/Wales in the Half Time/Full Time could be a decent bet at 6/1 with several bookmakers including Betfred. Wales to win by 1-12 points is 7/4 with Betway in the Winning Margin market.
