Scotland Prepares for a Tough Challenge Against Wales
Scott Cummings (right) says Scotland are expecting a 'gritty' Wales display
Scotland's remarkable victory over England sparked celebrations among their supporters but also raised a familiar question: can they maintain this level of performance?
Historically, Scotland have defeated England eight times in the Six Nations. Their first win came in 2000 during the final round of the Championship. However, following six of the other seven victories, Scotland have subsequently lost their next match.
This leads to the upcoming match at the Principality Stadium on Saturday. It is round three and presents Scotland with an opportunity to firmly establish themselves as contenders for the title.
The emotional and physical effort required to achieve these impressive Calcutta Cup wins has often made it difficult for Scotland to recover and replicate such performances.
After recovering strongly from their disappointing loss to Italy in Rome, Scotland delivered a sensational performance against England. Nonetheless, the memories of the Stadio Olimpico defeat remain a cautionary reminder as they prepare to face a Wales team currently struggling.
"We'll obviously be sitting there with Italy in the back of our mind and that performance," Scotland second-row Scott Cummings said.
"We know that we can't let our performance dip to that point again. We know that we can push on and we believe we can push on. But the weekend was just a start for us, now we need to back it up.
"In the nicest way possible, we've beaten England before. We've done this before in the Six Nations quite a few times and we probably haven't backed it up after that, so that's definitely a big focus for us."
Familiar Faces Anticipate a 'Gritty' Welsh Performance
Before the England match, captain Sione Tuipulotu described Scotland as "a desperate team" with their Six Nations hopes at stake.
That same desperation is likely to characterize Wales this weekend.
Steve Tandy, former Scotland defence coach and now Wales head coach, has witnessed his team suffer heavy defeats in their opening two matches against England and France.
Wales currently sit at the bottom of the table, having scored only 19 points across two games while conceding 102.
France dominated in Cardiff, scoring eight tries to hand Wales their 13th consecutive Six Nations loss.
Despite Wales' difficulties, Scotland's past experiences in Cardiff have taught them never to take a victory for granted.
"I obviously know some of their coaching staff, Steve Tandy and [former Glasgow head coach] Danny Wilson," Cummings said.
"They'll be obviously pretty up for this game, having worked with us in the past.
"We're expecting a pretty solid, gritty performance from them, and they'll definitely be tough to break down.
"They're going to be a team that's obviously hurting and, like we were last week, that often brings the best out in teams. So we're expecting a massive fight from them.
"I want the heat on us. We need to view every single moment as the most important moment of the match. If we don't, then I don't think we'll get the win out of it. So I don't think the pressure's off us.
"In international rugby, the pressure's always on you to perform well. I think for us it's going to be a massive game, but we're definitely not resting on the weekend being a finished performance."
