Wales 23 Scotland 10

Wales opened their 2004 RBS Six Nations campaign with an electrifying 23-10 win over an inexperienced and ultimately outclassed Scotland side at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.

Rhys Williams was the star for Wales -- running in two of his side's three tries -- as they opened the Six Nations with a victory for the first time in seven years.

While the hosts got their season off to the best of starts, Scotland face a lot of work after an unconvincing performance and new coach Matt Williams will find it difficult to find positives in his first game in charge of this new-look team.

The hosts hit the ground running much to the delight of an expectant home crowd, who since the Rugby World Cup last year have renewed faith in their team, and it took under five minutes for Wales to cross the line with Williams, Rhys that is, crossing for the first of his two tries.

Inside centre Iestyn Harris made the initial break as he cut through the Scottish defence, off-loading to veteran fullback Gareth Thomas -- making his 73rd appearance for Wales -- who put Williams away in the corner.  Fly-half Steven Jones made no mistake with the conversion.

Scotland, however, hit back not long after when captain Chris Paterson put over a drop-goal in the ninth minute, but it was scant reward for the Scots who would have been disappointed not to have made better use of an extended period of possession.

Wales seemed far more assured with the ball in hand and with Rhys Williams and his namesake Shane in ominous form, the Scotland outfit seemed unable to keep up.

Their defence was stretched again when Wales attacked off the base of a scrum and charged up in attack, sweeping the bewildered Scots across the width of the field with some exquisite handling.  Tighthead prop Adam Jones found himself out wide to receive the final pass and the big man -- with loosehead Duncan Jones in support -- showed a surprising turn of pace to charge over for the try.

Jones -- fly-half Stephen, not the props!  -- was again on hand to add the extras.  The Wales pivot then extended the lead further on the stroke of half-time with a penalty for the hosts to go into the break leading 18-3.

Wales continued to dominate in the opening quarter of the second half and 10 minutes after the restart Williams cantered over for his second try of the night following a handling error by Scotland at a defensive line-out.

It was the visitors, however, who enjoyed the bulk of the possession in a stagnant final quarter and a brave Scotland threw their entire arsenal at their hosts, but to no avail, as the Welsh defence simply absorbed the pressure and turned possession over at will.

Scotland tried their best to break free, but few things went right for Williams' youthful charges and Wales kept their visitors on the back foot for the rest of the night as the match began to break down into a Sevens-style contest with neither of the teams really taking control, although Wales had wrapped it up with their third try.

To their credit Scotland never gave up and they were rewarded on the stroke of full-time when standout No.8 Simon Taylor burrowed over for their only try of the match.  Paterson added the extra two points, but it was small consolation after yet another disappointing display by the out-of-sort Scots.

Man of the match:  Winger Rhys Williams was the personification of Wales' free-running style and apart from his two tries the Cardiff flyer was involved in any number of the Welsh moves as well as being a Trojan in defence.  His namesake Shane also deserves a mention here for some smart work on attack.

Moment of the match:  Very little can better the sight of a tighthead prop steaming down the touchline and it was not hard to give this award to Wales prop Adam Jones -- with an honourable mention to fellow front ranker Duncan Jones for keeping up -- for his sensational try in the corner.

Villian of the match:  Nobody springs to mind with the match played in excellent spirit.

The Teams:

Wales:  1 Duncan Jones, 2 Mefin Davies, 3 Adam Jones, 4 Brent Cockbain, 5 Gareth Llewellyn, 6 Colin Charvis (c), 7 Martyn Williams, 8 Dafydd Jones, 9 Gareth Cooper, 10 Stephen Jones, 11 Rhys Williams, 12 Iestyn Harris, 13 Sonny Parker, 14 Shane Williams, 15 Gareth Thomas
Reserves:  Huw Bennett, Gethin Jenkins, Michael Owen, Dwayne Peel, Jonathan Thomas
Unused:  Tom Shanklin, Ceri Sweeney

Scotland:  1 Bruce Douglas, 2 Gordon Bulloch, 3 Tom Smith, 4 Stuart Grimes, 5 Scott Murray, 6 Allister Hogg, 7 Cameron Mather, 8 Simon Taylor, 9 Chris Cusiter, 10 Chris Paterson (c), 11 Andrew Henderson, 12 Brendan Laney, 13 Tom Philip, 14 Simon Danielli, 15 Ben Hinshelwood
Reserves:  Michael Blair, Gavin Kerr, Daniel Parks, Simon Webster, Robbie Russell, Jason White
Unused:  Simon Cross

Attendance:  73913
Referee:  Courtney d.

Points Scorers:

Wales
Tries:  Williams G.R. 2, Jones A. 1
Conv:  Jones S.M. 1
Pen K.:  Jones S.M. 2

Scotland
Tries:  Taylor S.M. 1
Conv:  Paterson C.D. 1
Drop G.:  Paterson C.D. 1