Finn Russell admitted Scotland need to sharpen up after their late drop-off took the shine off a five-try 35-29 Guinness Six Nations win over struggling Wales at Murrayfield.
The Scots were well on top for an hour as they romped into a commanding 35-8 lead with doubles from Tom Jordan and Blair Kinghorn as well as a score from Darcy Graham.
But Wales, who had countered through Blair Murray in the first half, were able to salvage two losing bonus points as they scored three further tries in the final quarter through Ben Thomas, Teddy Williams and Max Llewellyn to deflate the hosts.
“I think going into that game, they showed against Ireland that they’re much better than what everyone thought of them, so it’s great for us to have that quick start in the game and then to finish up with the bonus-point win,” said co-captain Russell.
“But I think after about 55 minutes, we probably switched off a little bit, so for us, as learning, as a team, we need to stamp that out and make sure we have ruthless 80-minute performances.
“We probably could have scored another one or two tries in the last 15 minutes. We had a lot of pressure down there and just didn’t manage to go over the line.
“We’ll look back at the game next week and probably be frustrated with how we didn’t score more tries in the second half. But overall, it’s a bonus-point win and we’ve got to be happy with that.”
Russell had come under scrutiny after missing all three of his goal-kicks as the Scots’ title bid was killed by a 16-15 defeat away to England a fortnight ago, but this time his contribution from the tee proved crucial as he bounced back to nail all five of his conversions before being replaced just after the hour after suffering from cramp.
“I think I had my boots on the right feet today,” he smiled. “No, it was good. I think I did quite a bit of work this week and just got myself in the groove, which was nice actually.
“As a kicker, it can be quite tough when you’re not kicking well and then you’re trying to solve problems with every kick rather than just being in that groove and just trusting it. It was on Wednesday that I got myself back and then I kicked well yesterday and kept that running today in the game, which is great.”
Wales suffered a 16th consecutive Test defeat and a 10th straight Six Nations loss, but interim head coach Matt Sherratt was heartened by his side’s late rally after Scotland looked on course for a heavy victory.
“Obviously a real brave effort at the end to come back and get two points, but I’ve seen enough of those games where the reality is they probably thought they’d done enough and maybe dropped off five per cent,” said Sherratt.
“What I did feel, though, is there was a hell of a lot of effort from our boys in that last 20 minutes.
“Obviously really nice to get the four-try bonus point, but probably more pleasing for me was seeing the desperation to defend their line. It was almost like it was a one-score game with the amount of tackles some of our forwards put in those sets. It was outstanding.
“They’re a good Scotland team, I think we’ve got to remember that, they outscored England three tries to one last time. They’re a good side, they’ve been together a long time. Very distinct style of play, coaching staff has been together a long time and we run into them on a good day. There was no lack of effort, no lack of passion out there.”
