Warren Gatland and Shaun Edwards enjoyed a win in their first home game as Welsh coaches after their side condemned woeful Scotland to their second consecutive defeat of the Six Nations.

Wales were denied by good Scottish scramble defence in the opening stages before Chris Paterson put the visitors ahead with a penalty on ten minutes.

The home side were quickly back on the front foot and took the lead through a Shane Williams try. The diminutive Ospreys wing sidestepped his opposite man after a well-timed pass from full back Lee Byrne and James Hook added the conversion.

Things got worse for Frank Hadden’s men on 15 minutes when lock Nathan Hines, winning his 50th cap, was sin binned for lashing out at Byrne. 

Wales almost had a second just before Hines’ return but Tom Shanklin’s pass to Williams went to ground with the try line begging. It was symptomatic of a host of attacks launched by either side in the first half that were snuffed out at crucial stages by poor handling.

Hook and Paterson traded penalties either side of the half hour mark to keep the Welsh lead at four points but Scotland suffered a blow when captain Jason White left the field with a knock to the head to be replaced by Alastair Hogg.

It was Hogg who made the first break of the second half when he gained 50 metres after bursting on to an inside pass from Dan Parks. The move resulted in another penalty which the reliable Paterson converted to cut the Welsh lead to a point but the gap was widened again almost immediately by a try from Hook.

The fly-half slithered between front rowers Ross Ford and Euan Murray after good work on the Welsh left by Martyn Williams. Hook knocked over the extras but a fourth Paterson penalty kept Scotland in touch as the game became much looser than the stilted opening 40 minutes.

The Gloucester man was at it again on 56 minutes after Ian Gough was penalised for not using an arm in the tackle and, despite living on scraps of possession, usually obtained when a Welsh salvo resulted in a mistake, Scotland were within two points of Wales.

Perhaps sensing that Wales were in danger of ‘doing an England’, having been so dominant in territory and yet failing to put the game to bed,  Warren Gatland opted to replace Hook and scrum half Mike Phillips with experienced Scarlets half-back pairing Dwayne Peel and Stephen Jones.

And it was Jones who took Wales out of Paterson’s range with a simple penalty in front of the posts after an infringement by Hogg at a ruck.

The gap controversially became ten points when Shane Williams scored his second after scorching past Andy Hendserson and diving for the corner. Referee Bryce Lawrence went to Italian TMO Carlo Damasco for confirmation and, depsite replays suggesting the wing’s foot had grazed the touchline as the cover tackle from his Ospreys team mate Nikki Walker came in, the try was awarded.

A second penalty from Jones took Wales to the comfort zone of a 15-point lead, and sent them into the first break of the Championship next weekend knowing they have Italy at home in two weeks’ time to make it three wins out of three in the Championship, keeping Triple Crown and Grand Slam hopes very much alive.