In a contrasting game of two halves Wales came back from 27-0 down at the break against the Scots to almost snatch an unlikely victory and produce the most outrageous comeback in the competition’s history scoring four second-half tries but would fall agonisingly a point short.
The Scots would be part of their own downfall with their ill-discipline and complacency in the second 40 minutes of the match with long periods played with 14 but Gatland has clearly seen enough from the guys introduced from the bench to feel they warrant starts against the old enemy.
Having named his team early for Saturday’s match-up Gatland has made bold changes, seven in all from the 27-26 defeat in Cardiff just four days ago.
Wales have not won at Twickenham in the Six Nations since Scott Williams’ try with five minutes remaining on the clock saw Gatland’s side triumph 19-12 to win their 20th Triple Crown back in 2012. Eight losing attempts have followed with the English holding the bragging rights on their own patch.
England themselves, however, would be given a fright by a resurgent Italy side who would almost cause an upset in Rome with Borthwick’s experimental line-up scraping home 27-24 after the Italians had raced into a 10-0 lead and 17-14 scoreline at the break.
Despite showing fragilities to stand any chance against Steve Borthwick’s side Gatland has admitted Wales need to start much stronger than they did last weekend or face the same fate repeating itself.
Fly-half Sam Costelow’s absence through a failed HIA forced his hand from making a tough call with both half-backs Costelow and Gareth Davies struggling for form and one the day with the kicking wizardry of Finn Russell.
Scarlets regional teammate Ioan Lloyd is the man now charged with kicking duties and gets an opportunity from the start at fly-half as does in-form scrum-half Tomos Williams having been unlucky not to get the nod from the start last time out.
Several of the players who came off the bench against Scotland have been rewarded with places this time around with Cardiff’s Alex Mann another of those to benefit from an excellent debut that saw a first international try for his country
Veteran team stalwart’s Ospreys duo George North and Gareth Thomas return from injury to provide valuable experience within to the side which sees a completely changed front row having seen it being dismantled physically by the Scots in the first-half in Cardiff.
“We’ve been critical and tough on ourselves this week. That first half was nowhere near the standards we expected. We simply cannot start the same way this Saturday”, said Gatland.
“We showed in the second half against Scotland what we are capable of. Now it’s about building on that performance and playing with some tempo from the off.
“We’ve made a few changes to the starting line-up this weekend which gives opportunities to the players coming in. We need to be accurate and keep our discipline.
“This is a massive game, not only because of the history and what it means to everyone in Wales. But it’s an opportunity to get things on track a bit more.
“England are in a rebuilding phase. We’ll go there with a lot of confidence we can build on that second-half and belief.”
Wales XV to face Scotland:
Cam Winnett, Rio Dyer, George North, Nick Tompkins, Josh Adams, Ioan Lloyd, Tomos Williams
Gareth Thomas, Elliot Dee, Keiron Assiratti, Dafydd Jenkins (captain), Adam Beard, Alex Mann, Tommy Reffell, Aaron Wainwright.
Replacements:
Ryan Elias, Corey Domachowski, Archie Griffin, Will Rowlands, Taine Basham, Keiron Hardy, Cai Evans, Mason Grady.
[Lead image: Welsh Rugby Union]
