Scotland on Saturday overcame a stunning fightback by Wales to end their 22-year wait for a win in Cardiff with a 27-26 victory in their Six Nations opener, while England beat Italy 27-24 in Rome to end a long-standing opening day hoodoo.
In Wales, the visitors were 27-0 up early in the second half only for the home side to score 26 unanswered points of their own.
Their nail-biting win meant Scotland ended a run of 11 straight defeats in the Welsh capital, a sequence including nine Six Nations losses.
Photo: AFP
Scotland were in command after Duhan van der Merwe went over for the second of his two tries, and his side’s third in all after prop Pierre Schoeman crossed in the first half, but a new-look Wales, aided by a couple of Scotland yellow cards, hit back with four tries as James Botham, grandson of England cricket great Ian Botham, Rio Dyer, impressive No 8 Aaron Wainwright and replacement Alex Mann all crossed to the delight of a raucous home crowd.
Scotland, for whom captain Finn Russell kicked three conversions and two penalties, clung on to a one-point lead heading into the final 10 minutes, before regaining their composure to end the match by laying siege to the Wales line, with the television match official denying Van der Merwe a hat-trick.
“It’s brilliant to win down here after not winning in Cardiff for 22 years, but we will be a bit disappointed with that second-half performance,” Russell told S4C. “The second-half discipline wasn’t good enough, two yellow cards allowed Wales back into the game.”
In Rome, Elliot Daly and Alex Mitchell scored England’s two tries with George Ford kicking the rest of the points for Steve Borthwick’s men, who claimed their first round one win since 2019.
England are a point behind Ireland, who soundly beat France on Friday, after failing to earn a bonus point in a bitty display in the Italian capital in which the hosts scored three tries to the Red Rose’s two.
“Mixed bag performance, really pleased with some of the endeavor. There were a few growing pains out there but delighted with the character shown,” said England captain Jamie George, whose team started two debutants and brought three more off the bench for their first caps. “There were lots of new faces out there, but the thing that pleased me was the way we rallied round and showed a lot more of what we are about.”
Taiwan kept their hopes of advancing to next year’s World Baseball Classic (WBC) alive with a 9-1 victory over South Africa in a qualifier at the Taipei Dome on Saturday, backed by solid pitching. Taiwan last night played against Nicaragua. As of press time, Nicaragua was leading 6-0. Bouncing back from Friday’s struggles on the mound, when Taiwanese pitchers surrendered 15 runs to Spain, Team Taiwan on Saturday kept the visiting team in check, allowing just one run in the bottom of the fourth inning. Starting pitcher Sha Tzu-chen struck out one and allowed no hits, except for a hit-by-pitch over
Team Taiwan are set to face Spain in a win-or-go-home match tonight for the final berth at the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC), despite losing to Nicaragua 6-0 in the WBC qualifier at the Taipei Dome on Sunday. The home team’s loss on Sunday means Nicaragua finish first in the qualifier round in Taipei with a perfect 3-0 record and advances to next year’s finals. After crushing South Africa 9-1 earlier on Sunday, Spain took second place in the four-team qualifier with a 2-1 record. With a 1-2 record, Taiwan finished third while South Africa placed at the bottom with
Taiwan kept its hopes of advancing to the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC) alive with a 9-1 victory over South Africa in a qualifier at the Taipei Dome last night, backed by solid pitching. Bouncing back from Friday’s struggles on the mound, when Taiwanese pitchers surrendered 15 runs to Spain, Team Taiwan kept the visiting team in check, allowing just one run in the bottom of the fourth inning. The win was crucial for Taiwan, as a loss would have eliminated the team from contention for the next WBC. Starting pitcher Sha Tzu-chen (沙子宸) struck out one and allowed no hits, except for
Team Taiwan avoided missing the World Baseball Classic (WBC) for the first time by defeating Spain 6-3 in a do-or-die game in Taipei last night. After narrowly escaping a mercy-rule loss to Spain in the WBC Qualifiers opener on Friday last week, the home team — winner of last year's WBSC Premier12 title three months ago — got their revenge against the 2023 European champions at Taipei Dome. "It felt quite different from when we won the Premier12," Taiwan captain Chen Chieh-hsien (陳傑憲) said after the game, recalling the ups and downs the team has experienced over the past few days. Unlike in
RSS