Wales Vs Scotland: Scotland's terrible beauty reverses the narrative in Cardiff in wales vs scotland comeback

Scotland staged a spirited second-half fightback to beat Wales in Cardiff, overturning a 12-point deficit and retaining the Doddie Weir Cup — a result that sent Scotland to the top of the Six Nations table. The win matters now because it followed Scotland's Calcutta Cup success the previous week and left Wales reeling despite a buoyant Principality crowd.

Late drama and the scoring moments that decided the match

The visitors completed their comeback as George Turner piled over from close range to put Scotland ahead for the first time in the match, and Finn Russell's kick made it a three-point game. Scotland had been trailing 20-5 after 47 minutes but outscored Wales 21-3 for the remainder of the contest, turning a 12-point halftime deficit into a 26-23 final score. Finn Russell was central to the turnaround, credited with 11 second-half points and with creating or scoring two fast-paced tries that set Scotland on their comeback path.

Set-piece shifts, penalties and cards that shaped play

The match swung on a series of set-piece and breakdown incidents. Early on Wales worked through nine attacking phases inside a minute before being penalised for going off their feet by referee Matt Carley. Joe Hawkins received a yellow card for a dangerous, high tackle on Gregor Brown, leaving Wales a man down and opening a genuine scoring opportunity for Scotland — a long pass intended for Duhan van der Merwe was then intercepted by Josh Adams.

Sam Costelow's kicking kept Wales in front in the first half, converting Rhys Carre's opening try and adding penalties, while Wales also clipped over a penalty after an offside to make the score 17-5 by the 30th minute. Wales' Rhys Carre and Josh Adams crossed for tries in the opening 20 minutes.

Injuries, reactions and words from the dressing rooms

Wales contended with injuries to Sam Costelow and Taine Plumtree, with head coach Steve Tandy saying both "don't look great. " Wales captain Dewi Lake described the defeat as gut-wrenching and said the team had delivered the performance they had worked on in the week but failed to stay in moments for the full 80 minutes. On the Scotland side Sione Tuipulotu said his team had to "dig deep" and repeatedly used that defensive and physical resilience to see the result through.

Team sheets, replacements and try-scorers

Wales started: Rees-Zammit; Hamer-Webb (Murray 62), James, Hawkins, Adams; Costelow (Evans 56), Williams; Carre (Smith 42), Lake (Elias 56), Francis (Griffin 51), Jenkins (Thomas 75), Carter, Plumtree (Botham 9), Mann, Wainwright. Tries: Carre, Adams. Conversions: Costelow 2. Penalties: Costelow 2, Evans.

Scotland started: Kinghorn; Steyn, Jones (Jordan 67), Tuipulotu, Van der Merwe (Graham 54); Russell, White (Horne 54); McBeth (Schoeman 34), Cherry (Turner 54), Zander Fagerson (Millar-Mills 54), Williamson (Bayliss 34), Cummings (Gilchrist 67), Brown, Darge, Matt Fagerson. Tries: Steyn, Russell, Graham, Turner. Conversions: Russell 3.

Tactical substitutions noted included Pierre Schoeman replacing Nathan McBeth and Josh Bayliss replacing Max Williamson, with Gregor Brown moving into the second row; further replacements came on at the times listed above in the team sheets.

Crowd, context and what the result means for the table

Cardiff provided an electric backdrop, the Principality Stadium crowd recorded at 70, 649 — a large improvement on the previous week's low home attendance for Wales. The victory handed Scotland five points and elevated them to the top of the Six Nations table; they will drop to second if France beat Italy on Sunday. The win was Scotland's third instance of beating Wales directly after a victory over England in the same Championship run and preserved momentum in their charge for the 2026 Guinness Men’s Six Nations.

After an "ugly" but characterful performance described by players as digging and grafting under pressure, Scotland leave Cardiff with the Doddie Weir Cup and a dramatic chapter added to the wales vs scotland rivalry.