Wales navigated the potential banana skin of Scotland at Murrayfield with ease on Sunday, opening the defence of their Six Nations title with a confident 26-13 victory over the luckless locals.
It was the near-perfect start for the reigning champions and they will return home to plot England's downfall with heads and tails held high.
Scotland will rue what might have been. Two game-ending injures in the first half coupled with a yellow card to debutant prop Geoff Cross killed off what had been an enterprising start and any real chance of an upset.
Much has been made of Wales's confidence following their Grand Slam heroics of 2008 and they showed their mettle by shrugging off the eleventh-hour loss of their captain, Ryan Jones, to gallop to a 21-3 lead in just over 40 minutes of rugby.
But perhaps Wales are just a little too confident at present.
With the game all but won they coasted home in second half, allowing the Scots back into the game.
Shaun Edwards's face bent into apoplectic rage as Max Evans snatched a consolation try for the men in blue. It was a vivid indication that such bouts of navel-gazing will be beaten out of the Welsh in the next few days -- sides better equipped than resource-challenged Scotland would have taken full advantage of such complacency.
But perhaps also the Welsh are entitled to feel good about themselves. Their handling skills, game perception, defence, organisation and fitness are a cut above everything else we have seen this weekend.
Indeed, the only discernable chink in the red armour seems to be the line-out. It is a weakness that England will seek to exploit at the Millennium Stadium on Saturday -- it could be their only hope.
The Scots exploded into the game, making mincemeat out of the Welsh in the game's first scrum. But it proved to be an illusion -- Scotland's pack doubled and creaked without the twin tonnage of the injured Nathan Hines and Euan Murray.
The visitors, who have won only once on their last five visits to Edinburgh, soon settled into the stride, with Lee Byrne causing the locals all sorts of problems with his sinewy lines of running.
Simon Webster came off his wing to kill a promising raid with a great hit on Martyn Williams, but the Scotsman came off second best -- and the intervention led to a penalty which Stephen Jones duly dispatched between the upright.
It was a passage of play that summed up the hosts' day: plenty of hearty endeavour but precious little reward.
And worse was to come.
This time it was Cross who came off second best in a challenge. He took out the airborne Lee Byrne and earned concussion and a yellow card for his troubles.
Webster was then ordered off the pitch after a delayed reaction from his own knock saw him introduce his lunch to the Murrayfield turf during the break in play.
Wales made the most of the Scotland's woes by scoring immediately after the resumption of play, launching a flowing back move that saw Shane Williams and Byrne link menacingly before Tom Shanklin powered over in his usual inimitable fashion.
Jones botched the conversion attempt, yet Wales were good value for their 8-0 advantage during what had been a stop-start affair during the first 25 minutes.
And matters soon deteriorated further for Scotland, as Wales cashed in on disrupting the seven-man blue scrum to launch a Stephen Jones-inspired raid before scrum-half Mike Phillips delivered the scoring pass to Alun-Wyn Jones.
Chris Paterson, on for the stricken Webster, opened Scotland's account with a penalty nine minutes before the break, but Wales were in no mood to concede further points.
A Welsh defence that conceded just two tries during last season's entire Six Nations tournament thwarted Scottish adventure, highlighted through a stunning try-saving tackle by number eight Andy Powell on Paterson.
With the ball failing to emerge from the ensuing melee, Scotland were awarded a scrum on the red line. Manna from heaven for any attacking team -- but not a under-powered Scottish scrum. Ross Ford won the hook but Wales simply shunted the Scots off the ball and Powell ran to safety from the base of the accelerating scrum.
Wales charged upfield in pursuit of their ramapaging anchorman and Stephen Jones struck his second penalty with the half's final kick, securing a 16-3 interval advantage.
Wales began the second half as they ended the first, with the impressive Jamie Roberts cutting a line down the middle of the field. The ball was sent right at pace and a delicious back-door pass from Shane Williams offered up the line to Leigh Halfpenny and the youngster touched down in the corner with textbook precision.
Stephen Jones missed the conversion but it hardly mattered: Wales had clear water and the Scots were all at sea.
Inevitably, Shane Williams soon got in on the act, sneaking through following a period of sustained pressure. Again, Stephen Jones failed to add the extras.
With the job done, Wales boss Warren Gatland rang the changes. It seemed the stationary warm-up bicycles would offer the Welsh replacements more of a work-out than the Scots, but the hosts had other ideas.
They mounted a late challenge with Martyn Williams in the sin-bin for a deliberate knock-down and a consolation try duly arrived on 71 minutes with the impressive Evans wriggling through to score.
The try lifted the crowd and their team continued to press. Paterson almost scored, but he could not ground the ball ahead of a scrambling Byrne.
The truth is that a second Scottish try would have added nothing but cosmetic value -- Wales had comfortably done enough, winning a Test match they never remotely looked like losing.
Man of the match: Not much from the Scots, to be painfully honest -- but one senses that they are just a game or two away from getting it together -- one has sensed that for a while, actually. All the usual stars shone for Wales, but it was the intelligent play of the unsung Jamie Roberts that stood out. How Scotland must envy their victors' deep reserves of talent!
Moment of the match: Surely the demolition of Scotland's scrum on the Welsh line -- it was a hammer blow to any lingering Scottish hopes.
Villain of the match: Alain Rolland was reluctant to wave a yellow card over the prone body of Geoff Cross and we are reluctant to hand him this hideous gong. It might have been a tad cynical, but we'll put it down to over-exuberance -- his tears during Flower of Scotland showed just what a first appearance for his country meant to him. It seems a pity that he won't remember any of it! No award.
The scorers:
For Scotland:
Try: Evans
Con: Paterson
Pens: Paterson 2
For Wales:
Tries: Shanklin, AW Jones, Halfpenny, S Williams
Pens: S Jones 2
Yellow card(s): Cross (Scotland) -- dangerous tackle, 20; M Williams (Wales) -- deliberate knock-down, 66.
The teams:
Scotland: 15 Hugo Southwell, 14 Simon Webster, 13 Ben Cairns, 12 Graeme Morrison, 11 Sean Lamont, 10 Phil Godman, 9 Mike Blair (c), 8 Simon Taylor, 7 John Barclay, 6 Ally Hogg, 5 Jim Hamilton, 4 Jason White, 3 Geoff Cross, 2 Ross Ford, 1 Allan Jacobsen.
Replacements: 16 Dougie Hall, 17 Alastair Dickinson, 18 Kelly Brown, 19 Scott Gray, 20 Chris Cusiter, 21 Chris Paterson, 22 Max Evans.
Wales: 15 Lee Byrne, 14 Leigh Halfpenny, 13 Tom Shanklin, 12 Jamie Roberts, 11 Shane Williams, 10 Stephen Jones, 9 Michael Phillips, 8 Andy Powell, 7 Martyn Williams (c), 6 Dafydd Jones, 5 Alun-Wyn Jones, 4 Ian Gough, 3 Adam Jones, 2 Matthew Rees, 1 Gethin Jenkins.
Replacements: 16 Huw Bennett, 17 John Yapp, 18 Luke Charteris, 19 Bradley Davies, 20 Dwayne Peel, 21 James Hook, 22 Andrew Bishop.
Referee: Alain Rolland (Ireland)
Touch judges: Chris White (England), Rob Debney (England)
TMO: Geoff Warren (England)
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