Wainwright's call to arms

Clem Thomas sees the Scotland captain produce a heroic display

SELDOM could a game have been more entertaining yet only produce one try apiece. This was a match of extraordinary defence with both sides heroically giving their all to prevent anyone crossing their line.

There were heroes in all parts of the field, with Rob Wainwright, the Scottish captain, setting the paramount example to his team. Scotland were, for the most part, under the cosh against a Welsh team which again showed high promise but are still too naive to win, even at home.

In the ruck the Scots were always far too streetwise and it was always evident that Wales simply had no Wainwright-like figure to answer the call. Wainwright was everywhere and has developed into one of the great back-row forwards.

Wainwright said: "I've got to commend the Welsh, who played with an enormous amount of spirit. They probably deserved a draw, if not a win. We will have to have a look at the game and see where we went wrong. We find it tremendously hard to win these games, I'm just glad we came away with a win."

The disappointed Welsh captain, Jonathan Humphreys, said of the Scots: "They're a good side. I think they are going to go on and win the Grand Slam." He added: "It was a wonderful atmosphere and the players were disappointed that they could not give the crowd the victory that their support deserved. The boys gave so much. You don't want to feel like that ever again.".

A relieved Jim Telfer, Scotland's director of coaching, knew his side had been fortunate. "We were very disappointed in the way we played," he said. "Wales took the game to us and gave us a good deal of trouble in the front and middle of the line-out. We were pleased with our win, but we know that we were let off today."