Kick-off: 1645, 11/02/2023
Stadium: Murrayfield
TV: BBC1
Scotland have all the momentum heading into Saturday’s Six Nations clash with Wales but the visitors do have a great record at Murrayfield.
They have won on six of their last seven visits to Edinburgh and will be determined to bounce back from being battered by Ireland.
We feel 21/10 for an away victory is too tempting to turn down in our first Scotland vs Wales prediction.
Scotland Odds
Scotland’s unflinching willingness to attack helped them to secure a 29-23 win over England at Twickenham.
That was a third consecutive Calcutta Cup triumph for Gregor Townsend’s team and gave us a trio of successful selections in our match preview.
Duhan van der Merwe epitomised the Scots’ class and courage on that occasion, scoring with a sensational solo effort among his two tries.
The Edinburgh player stunned the home support when he ran from his own half and evaded five English tackles to touch down.
“I still can’t believe I’ve done that,” he told BBC Sport. “It’s my best try I’ve ever scored. Looking back at it, just absolutely buzzing.”
With three home games and a trip to France to come, talk of a surprise title tilt has been rekindled.
“We have to take it game by game,” added Van der Merwe. “We have to focus on Wales this weekend.
“But also we believe that we can go and beat every single team out there because we’re a really, really tight group and we play for each other. So, why not?”
However, England’s loose kicking, fragmented chase and dismal tackling played into Scotland’s hands and Wales will hopefully learn from that.
In each of the previous two years, Scotland have beaten England first up and then had the wind removed from their sails by losing to the Welsh on matchday two.
Looking at the Scotland vs Wales odds, we reckon 4/5 for the visitors with 6.5 points start is a good bet.
Wales Odds
Wales just couldn’t cope with the relentless physicality of Ireland early on in Cardiff and were 27-3 down at the end of an ill-disciplined first half.
However, while the final score of 34-10 was a heaviest Six Nations home defeat for 22 years, Warren Gatland’s men held their own in a tight second period.
“Nine penalties in the first 20 minutes cost us field position against a good side,” assistant coach and defence specialist Mike Forshaw said.
“You can’t give away that number of penalties at this level, defending five-metre lineouts against Ireland, who we know are a very good side.”
The former rugby league international added: “We have to start better than we did last week, that’s the first thing on my brain.
“We have to get into the game early without being under the pump with discipline, and there has been a bit of a focus on that.”
Forshaw accepts that Scottish rugby is on a high, with Glasgow and Edinburgh going well at club level, and paid tribute to their counter-attacking threat.
The Twickenham triumph has been noted, though, and with a nod to this weekend’s gameplan, he added: “The England tactics of going long were probably not great.”
Let’s go with the visitors to get the fast start Forshaw craves and add 5/4 for them to score the first try to our Scotland vs Wales betting tips.
Additional stats
Last result:
England 23-29 SCOTLAND
WALES 10-34 Ireland
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