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04-Feb-2018
Defeat 'a bitter pill to swallow'
The National
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STUART McInally says Scotland 's NatWest 6 Nations capitulation in Cardiff was "a bitter
pill to swallow".
Scotland arrived at the Principality Stadium scenting a first victory in the Welsh capital since
2002, having crushed Australia earlier this season and ran world champions New Zealand
close.
But optimism was quickly replaced by damage limitation as Wales scored two converted
tries during the opening 12 minutes and then ran out 34-7 victors, with Scotland restricted to
a late Peter Horne try that Finn Russell converted for their only scoring contribution.
France head to Murrayfield next Sunday, and the Scots have to regroup quickly or their Six
Nations campaign could collapse into a complete state of disrepair.
"We spoke so much during the week about coming down [to Cardiff] and winning," Scotland
hooker McInally said.
"It is a bitter pill to swallow. A lot of the points they scored were our doing, our errors, so that
is something we need to look at ourselves – how do we get better on that front.
"It was 14-0 after 14 minutes – something like that – but the tries they got were two errors
from us. They didn't have to work too hard for them. They got an intercept where we just set
up our carrier really wide, and then [Gareth] Davies picked that off.
"There was not too much panic at that point because it was all our doing, and that is the
most frustrating thing. Jonny [Gray] was carrying well, and we had the better rugby in the
first half."
Scotland prevented any further Wales points before half-time, but two quickfire Leigh
Halfpenny penalties shortly after the break left McInally and company 20 points adrift and
with no hope of a comeback.
"We didn't seem able to string more than a few phases together, and their defence was
excellent," McInally added. "They just played better than us.
"They are a quality team that are littered with British and Irish Lions and quality players who
are in really good form for their clubs, so we knew how tough it would be to play them in this
competition away from home.
"We wanted to come here and play well, which we didn't."
McInally admitted the second quarter proved frustrating as Scotland strived to reduce their
14-point deficit, failing to capitalise on territorial supremacy.
"I felt we played the better rugby and were constantly in their half, but we were not getting
anywhere," he said.
"They were well-disciplined and were not giving up many penalties, and we always seemed
to be on the wrong end of those penalties, which was annoying.
"You struggle to get into the game in that way, but credit to Wales, they played really well."