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Wales on track for Grand Slam

"In the first half, we started off just as we had finished in Paris."

Wales coach Mike Ruddock

Rhys Williams and Kevin Morgan scored two tries each on Sunday as Wales stayed on course for a first Six Nations Grand Slam since 1978 with a 46-22 win over Scotland.

Wales became the only side capable of winning the Slam on Saturday when Ireland lost 26-19 at home to France. In Saturday's other game, England ended a run of four losses by beating Italy 39-7 at Twickenham.

Wales had won just once at Murrayfield since 1985, but romped into a 40-point lead early in the second half with six tries, Ryan Jones crossing the line on his 24th birthday and Shane Williams adding the other.

Now the Welsh have to beat Ireland at home to achieve the Slam and win the title for the first time since 1994.

"It will be an amazing atmosphere in Cardiff," said Wales coach Mike Ruddock, who had refused to let his team talk about the Grand Slam until after this game.

"Hopefully there's one more big match left in us. Ireland will be hurt after their loss. They are a very dangerous team."

Ruddock said he was disappointed his team didn't maintain the momentum in the second half.

"In the first half, we started off just as we had finished in Paris," he said, refering to Wales' 24-18 victory over the French two weeks ago. "But we didn't play for the 80 minutes."

Trailing 43-3, the Scots hit back with tries by Andy Craig, Rory Lamont and Chris Paterson, but go to England next Saturday fearing a fourth loss in five matches.

The first of five first-half Welsh tries came in the second minute.

The Welsh pounced on a poor kick and counterattacked with a move that Ryan Jones started and finished.

From his pass, the ball went through three pairs of Welsh hands to the left and was then switched back through three more for the back row to charge clear and cross the line.

The second try was down to a Scottish mistake.

With the Scots attacking deep in Welsh territory, Williams intercepted a pass by flyhalf Dan Parks and ran 80m totally unchallenged for the score.

Shane Williams' try was the result of poor Scottish defending.

Taking the ball from a ruck, Stephen Jones ran through another huge gap in Scottish defense to feed Michael Owen. The big back row had plenty of passing options before giving the winger an easy run to the posts.

Stephen Jones and Chris Paterson traded penalties before the Welsh scored a fourth try in the 27th minute. Center Tom Shanklin broke through another missed tackle and provided a short pass for fullback Morgan to touch down and put the Welsh 28 points clear.

Dwayne Peel broke through and released Morgan for his second try in the final minute of the half and Jones' conversion sent the Welsh into the interval leading 38-3.

The sixth Welsh try arrived in the ninth minute of the second half when Peel took a quick free kick in front of the Scottish posts, to the fury of the Scots who had a player injured. He found Rhys Williams with a long pass and the winger went over in the corner for his second score.

That stretched the lead to 40 points with more than 30 minutes remaining but the Scots then hit back with a converted try.

They pulled the Welsh defense out of position and, although Rhys Williams halted the charge with a tackle, the ball was recycled quickly and the Scots had a double overlap on the left for Craig to go over.

The Scots then scored two tries in the space of two minutes to give their total some respectability.

Rory Lamont took Paterson's long throw and shrugged off two tacklers to go over in the corner for a try on his debut.

And, after the Scots had broken skillfully out of their own 22 with some quality passing, Hugo Southwell kicked ahead for Paterson to run clear for a try which he then converted.
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