Wales 23 Scotland 9

Wales finally got a credible win under their belts on Saturday after a year of pure torment, as they got the better of an adventurous Scotland by a 23-9 scoreline at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.

While the second-string Welsh midweek team may have technically ended the country's barren run on Wednesday by beating a hapless Romania side, this victory over Scotland will be a major relief to beleaguered coach Steve Hansen, who has endured intense scrutiny in the Welsh media of late.

And there was much to be positive about in his side's display, not least the cultured centre play of Iestyn Harris, who dominated the game from No.12 and struck five valuable penalties for his side -- only a missed conversion attempt blotting his copybook.

The only try of the match came in the second half when lock Michael Owen crossed the line for Wales, against a Scotland team who showed great attacking flair in the first half, but whose play took on a comparably directionless appearance as the match wore on.

Scrum-half Graeme Beveridge provided quick but occasionally wayward service to his backs, and lacked the spark of the nippy Mike Blair or injured skipper Bryan Redpath, with captain for this game, lock Scott Murray, also leaving the field with a knee injury after only half an hour.

Three penalties from centre Brendan Laney were all the Scots had to show for their efforts, although despite the disappointment of defeat, players such as openside Andrew Mower, wing Simon Danielli and prop Bruce Douglas put in solid displays.

There was a frantic Super 12-style start to the game, and Scotland's short-haired props Gavin Kerr and Bruce Douglas must have felt like they were driving a soft-top into a car-wash machine when they scrummaged against Welsh duo Adam Jones and namesake Paul, both of whom were sporting enormous mop-top hairstyles.

Openside Richard Parks and blindside Colin Charvis likewise have volume in abundance in the folical department, although the resulting wind resistance did not seem to slow their game down.

With the game only minutes old, Laney nudged the Scots ahead with a well-struck penalty from all of 40 metres, before a quick-fire three from Harris -- one via the post, transformed the scoreline and sent Wales 9-3 in front.

Both sides made the running in a free-flowing opening, with Charvis twice breaking the line and streaking away, both times failing however to turn his territorial gains into a score.

Likewise, Scotland fullback Glenn Metcalfe caused havoc in the Welsh defence, side-stepping his way through the midfield and linking well with the support runners.

Both back rows showed energy, and Mower enjoyed a free 40-metre run before being hauled down by the defence -- the resulting recycle seeing Wales snaffle the ball at the feet of the scrum-half with the Scottish pack offering no protection.

Harris nudged Wales three points further in the lead with a fourth penalty, while a second for Laney brought the half-time score to 12-6 in favour of the Welsh -- the Kiwi going on to miss one just before the break from left of the posts.

The second half was not played at quite the same break-neck speed as the first, with Harris and Laney each striking a penalty in the opening five minutes -- just before the first and only try of the game.

It came from a miss pass by the cool Harris in midfield, and he found the industrious Shanklin, who stepped and burst through two tacklers before hurtling at full tilt towards the line.

He was stopped just short, but from the recycle the ball was worked left to second row Owen, who stepped inside an unconvincing challenge from fullback Metcalfe to fall over the line for the try.

Scotland applied a degree of forward pressure from this point onwards, producing superb continuity at times, and frustrating handling errors at others, but some of their quick hands in the tackle were sublime.

Despite the defeat, coach Ian McGeechan got to see 20 minutes of wing Chris Paterson at fly-half after coming on from the bench, having earlier featured in the No.10 shirt in a non-cap match against the Barbarians to some degree of success as the coach assesses his talent there.

He made impressive runs with his first two breaks, but failed -- much like Wales' Ceri Sweeney -- to really stamp his authority on the match.

Sweeney struck a late drop-goal to round the scoring off in a match which may have limited significance in the bigger picture, but which threw up some performances worthy of World Cup consideration -- Wales captain Colin Charvis and centre Shanklin among those to have shone.

Man of the match:  An assured all-round display from Wales inside centre Iestyn Harris sees the former Rugby League man get our award.  He kicked his goals well, showed superb vision and attacking flair, but also an understanding of when to clear the danger.  Openside Richard Parks fared well but gave away a host of penalties, while for the Scots there was a competent showing from Brendan Laney at inside centre, especially as he held his nerve witht the boot.

Moment of the match:  There were assorted passages of play where the Scots dazzled with their entertaining ability to pass the ball out of the tackle, but for one specific moment of the game look no further than Michael Owen's try for Wales, especially the way in which it was set up by centre Tom Shanklin's powerful break.

Villain of the match:  In a match without fisticuffs or any real nastiness, our villainous award goes to the shiny white boots of Scotland fullback Glenn Metcalfe, who looked like a car on a skid-pan all afternoon, falling over on at least five occasions.

The Teams:

Wales:  1 Duncan Jones, 2 Robin McBryde, 3 Adam Jones, 4 Michael Owen, 5 Vernon Cooper, 6 Richard Parks, 7 Colin Charvis (c), 8 Alix Popham, 9 Dwayne Peel, 10 Ceri Sweeney, 11 Jamie Robinson, 12 Iestyn Harris, 13 Tom Shanklin, 14 Matthew Watkins, 15 Garan Evans
Reserves:  Huw Bennett, Haldane Luscombe, Rhys Oakley, Gareth Llewellyn
Unused:  Nicky Robinson, Mike Phillips, Ben Evans

Scotland:  1 Bruce Douglas, 2 Gordon Bulloch, 3 Gavin Kerr, 4 Stuart Grimes, 5 Scott Murray (c), 6 Andrew Mower, 7 Martin Leslie, 8 Jon Petrie, 9 Graeme Beveridge, 10 Gregor Townsend, 11 Rory Kerr, 12 Brendan Laney, 13 Andrew Craig, 14 Simon Danielli, 15 Glenn Metcalfe
Reserves:  Andrew Dall, Dougie Hall, Nathan Hines, Gordon McIlwham, Chris Paterson
Unused:  Michael Blair, Andrew Henderson

Attendance:  24740
Referee:  White c.

Points Scorers:

Wales
Tries:  Owen M.J. 1
Pen K.:  Harris I.R. 5
Drop G.:  Sweeney C. 1

Scotland
Pen K.:  Laney B.J. 3