Glawio Rugby

Wales vs Scotland Review – Six Nations 2026

Wales 23 – 26 Scotland

Needless to say, a much better performance from Wales. Being in the stadium, the atmosphere was as intense as the scoreline, bearing strong resemblance to the Ireland game of last year with an even more impressive scoreline from a Welsh perspective. Hungry from two successive years of winless results, Wales fought hard across all 80 minutes and contrary to their usual difficulties in the opening stages, were firing from minute one. They physically matched Scotland blow-for-blow, held their own in the aerial battle and the setpiece (at least, for the most part), and gave the Raeburn Shield holders a real challenge.

Tandy has spoken in the build up to the Six Nations about the squad learning from past mistakes and developing an identity together. While this was difficult to see in the first two games, Wales really felt like a complete team that was able to play some solid rugby at a Tier 2 standard, rather than simply fighting for survival. Able to attack from all areas of the game, Wales had far more good performances than mediocre, and very few poor showings. The fundamentals were solid and their much maligned defence was far better as they kept Scotland away from the tryline for most of the match.

But it wasn’t meant to be; Scotland just had too much to throw at them. While the visitors had their own strugglers, the bench closed out the game as seasoned players like Darcy Graham and George Turner knew what it took to win a result. Though narrow, Wales couldn’t maintain that level of quality for all 80 minutes, and simply need to continue building upon what went well to rebuild themselves to a standard worthy of the Top 10.

Player Ratings

1: Rhys Carré 8

Incredibly powerful, managing to get through work on both sides of the ball before powering over for Wales’ first try. Held his own well against the world-class Zander Fagerson in the scrum, and has firmly established himself as one of Wales’ premier carriers.

2: Dewi Lake 7

An even better performance than last week. Lake also carried hard into heavy traffic and usually came out on top, getting over the gainline and nailing the lineout. Knocked the ball on close to the line, which was gutting for him as a try looked inevitable, and his poor tackle rate held him back, but this was still another improved performance as he slowly gets back to his best.

3: Tomas Francis 6

Quieter than his front-row teammates, but Francis’ experience was invaluable in neutralising the Scottish scrum threat. Notable when he left the field.

4: Dafydd Jenkins 8

After an underwhelming start to the season, Jenkins was back to his best work. Topped the charts for tackles (22) and missed none, constant carrier, and caused multiple breakdown frustrations for someone as skilled as Rory Darge. One of Wales’ best players, and proved that again today.

5: Ben Carter 7

You can pretty much copy paste everything said about Jenkins here; like Beard, he and Jenkins have a lot in common, but unlike Beard and Jenkins, that was a positive as he also boasted a 22/0 tackle success rate and managed the lineout well, though there were some tactical glitches.

6: Taine Plumtree N/A

Poor guy had a great opportunity to show his value as a starter but after taking down a threatening Kyle Steyn, had to be taken off the pitch due to injury. Looked to be settling in at this level, too.

7: Alex Mann 7

The 3 penalties will sting a lot – that alone is a third of Wales’ total conceded, but Mann’s workrate more than compensated for his faults. Not normally a strong openside, Mann won the same number of turnovers as Darge, and offered himself as a carrier just as much. Not the biggest, but he does it all.

8: Aaron Wainwright 9

One of Wales’ two best players, Waino is simply unplayable when he gets good ball to carry. 3 defenders beaten from a whopping 21 carries, he battered down Scotland’s gainline and gave Wales to physical advantage to take the lead. Though he missed 2 tackles, notably letting Finn Russell through for his try, 18 tackles made shows he can more than hold his own on defence too.

9: Tomos Williams 6

You can look at Tomos’ game from two angles. In terms of his box kicking, he perfectly managed to give Wales territory and opportunities which steered their control over the game. But at the same time, his croc roll cost them a potential try, and his more limited leadership resulted in poor structure towards the end of the game. He’s still a mile off the other scrum-halves Wales have, but there are some areas of his game which will need to be better.

10: Sam Costelow 9

For all his confidence issues after trying to take the reins following Biggar’s retirement, Costelow came back roaring after being usurped by Dan Edwards. His tee-kicking and touch finding were superb, as he repeatedly saw opportunities to put Welsh attackers through and took them. Even against a world-class fly-half like Finn Russell, Costelow looked far from out of place, and if he wasn’t injured at the 55 minute mark, he could’ve possibly outshined his opposite number by the end. Hopefully his injury isn’t too serious.

11: Josh Adams 6

Adams was tough to rate, as despite being one of Wales’ only two try scorers, his role largely came down to restraining Kyle Steyn’s aerial game. Fortunately, he was great at it, though for 7 carries, it was a pretty quiet night.

12: Joe Hawkins 5

Hawkins is still great, but that yellow really held him back. Scotland couldn’t really capitalise on the opportunity, but it could;ve been a very different story given how much discipline has held Wales back in the past. In spite of that, Hawkins’ otherwise solid physical contributions are scarred by 2 penalties conceded and 2 tackles missed, a lot less flattering statistically than his teammates.

13: Eddie James 7

James also managed a similarly awkward defensive showing to Hawkins, but his carrying continues to come along nicely. Would he be better at 12? Maybe, especially since it’s strange to bring Owen Watkin in otherwise, but so far, no complaints here.

14: Gabriel Hamer-Webb 4

The main shock inclusion, it was a great moment for Hamer-Webb to earn his first cap given his story with choosing to represent his mother’s country. Still, he’s trying to play against world-class wingers, and unlike Adams, he scored no tries and was repeatedly caught out in defence, completely botching the restart and allowing Darcy Graham to outrun him. Rookie errors made by a rookie, he’ll at least be among Tandy’s options for the World Cup now.

15: Louis Rees-Zammit 5

Like Tomos Williams, minus the solid box-kicking. Rees-Zammit had a terrible time in defence, targeted repeatedly by midfielders and getting outplayed on all sides by Russell and Jones. Those are world-class stars as well, but so far he hasn;t really made the fullback jersey his despite his obvious quality. Will be interesting to see if he persists in this position.

BENCH

16: Ryan Elias 6

Worse than Dewi Lake, but still put in a good shift at the lineout. Only 2 carries, which is a little disappointing, but Scotland started to pick up momentum from there, so not really his fault.

17: Nicky Smith 8

About as good as Carré, maybe slightly less so as he was less of a carrying threat and Wales weren’t able to target Scotland’s scrum. But around the park, he showed his class as he targeted Scotland’s breakdown and annoyed potential carriers.

18: Archie Griffin 4

Had limites minutes, and spent most of them going backwards at scrum time. Honestly, this may be a flattering scoreline, as Griffin’s scrum difficulties were one of the main reasons Wales lost the match in the end, but his 12/1 tackle success rate in such limited minutes was a considerable positive to take away.

19: Freddie Thomas N/A

Because why would you want to replace Dafydd Jenkins?

20: James Botham 8

Basically started, given Plumtree’s immediate departure, but was a constant annoyance for Scotland at the breakdown. The Cardiff backrow combo gave Darge a rough time, and Botham also managed 15 tackles and a turnover of his own, though his confusion before Darcy Graham’s try didn’t paint the best picture of his game-reading.

21: Kieran Hardy N/A

At this point, just have Blair Murray cover the scrum-half position. Wait, that actually sounds cool…

22: Jarrod Evans 7

Not at Costelow’s standard of game management, and presumably wasn’t supposed to come on as early as he did, but otherwise kept the attack flowing well and managed some nice tee-kicks.

23: Blair Murray 5

On-and-off again for Hamer-Webb, and couldn’t add much in attack. Still invisible in the air, so he can stay on the bench for the time being.

My Team vs Ireland

1: Rhys Carré

2: Dewi Lake

3: Tomas Francis

4: Dafydd Jenkins

5: Ben Carter

6: Alex Mann

7: James Botham

8: Aaron Wainwright

9: Tomos Williams

10: Sam Costelow

11: Josh Adams

12: Joe Hawkins

13: Eddie James

14: Ellis Mee

15: Louis Rees-Zammit

BENCH

16: Ryan Elias

17: Nicky Smith

18: Archie Griffin

19: Freddie Thomas

20: Olly Cracknell

21: Kieran Hardy

22: Jarrod Evans

23: Blair Murray

Not a lot has changed, as given the released players for the interim URC fixture, these are the players Tandy is likely considering for selection. James Botham performed well against Scotland, and comes into the starting squad to replace the possibly injured Taine Plumtree. Costelow is also injured, and whether or not he’ll be available for future games is yet to be seen, but Edwards is a good replacement if so. Ellis Mee has generally performed better than Gabriel Hamer-Webb, so he comes back in to limit Jacob Stockdale’s aerial influence. Louie Hennessey could also feature in a similar fashion to Mason Grady in the first two weeks, but Blair Murray is the safer call, as Ireland have fewer answers to his pace than Scotland. Sam Wainwright could also earn his chance as Archie Griffin underperformed, but Tandy might play it safe instead.