CARDIFF, Wales (AP) — Scotland was spared embarrassment when it came from 20-5 down and scraped past Wales 26-23 in Six Nations rugby on Saturday.
Wales looked set for its first Six Nations victory in two years.
But a riveting game turned on a schoolboy error by Wales, when it was caught napping by a quick Finn Russell restart and replacement winger Darcy Graham accepted a kind bounce to score. That cut Wales’ lead to 23-19 in the 58th minute.
Scotland finally led for the first time in the 74th after replacement hooker George Turner scored their bonus-point fourth try from a lineout maul. Russell’s third conversion capped it.
But Scotland was lucky. It started as a 20-point favorite, albeit nervously. The Scots were coming off thrashing England at Murrayfield last weekend and they have not previously handled the emotional and physical toll of that well; they followed their eight previous England wins with six losses.
Wales was up for an ambush, masterminded by coach Steve Tandy, who was in charge of Scotland’s defense for Gregor Townsend for six years until last September.
They felt a great opportunity was missed to end a Six Nations losing streak that has grown to 14 matches. After taking consecutive hidings from New Zealand, South Africa, England and France — the world’s top four teams — Scotland was closer to their level and a rebuilding Wales responded to deserve a rare halftime lead of 17-5.
But Scotland grit prevailed and, with two out of three wins, was the closest challenger to unbeaten France. They meet at Murrayfield in two weeks.
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