David Ferguson passes judgement on Scotland's opening Six Nations performance - a 26-13 defeat to Wales - in The Scotsman.
"The fact this scoreline flattered Scotland and yet Wales never really moved beyond third gear at Murrayfield yesterday provides all the information anyone needs from what was a demoralising opening to the Six Nations Championship for Frank Hadden's men.
"For every step Scotland took forward yesterday, they contrived to take two back with countless basic errors until, finally, lifting the momentum, conviction and pace of their attack in the final quarter. The game was over by then, Wales holding a 26-6 lead after 58 minutes, but Max Evans blew a hole in Scotland's selection policy when he did what he does best and out-stripped Shane Williams and Lee Byrne for a great try ten minutes from the end, and Chris Paterson came within inches of scoring a follow-up that would have set up an incredible finale.
"But Scotland barely deserved it. For all the undoubted effort, when the team did gain some possession on the front foot – which was not often enough – they seemed to have gone back a couple of years to the predictable, momentum-less midfield drives, or the drifting, lateral moves of Hadden's previous years, crucially lacking dynamism. Hadden, himself, was at a loss to explain why afterwards, and he has just five days to work it out before Scotland face France."
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