| Venue: Principality Stadium, Cardiff Date: Saturday, 3 February Kick-off: 16:45 GMT |
| Coverage: Watch live on BBC One, BBC iPlayer and online from 16:00 GMT; listen on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra, BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Scotland & Radio Cymru; text commentary and highlights on BBC Sport website and app. |
Wales and Scotland meet in Cardiff on Saturday in a colossal opening Six Nations match for both nations.
With a raft of big names unavailable or retired, coach Warren Gatland has been forced to name an inexperienced side.
A settled-looking Scotland will surely fancy their chances but they last won in Cardiff back in 2002.
Unlike Wales, the Scots have never claimed a Six Nations title and they will likely need to end their barren run at the Principality Stadium if they are to have any hope of claiming that elusive first Championship.
Team news
Wales: Cardiff full-back Cameron Winnett, 21, is set to make his debut but the vastly experienced George North misses out with a shoulder injury and is replaced at outside centre by Owen Watkin.
Prop Leon Brown is handed just his fourth Test start and first in the Six Nations, while Dafydd Jenkins will become Wales’ second-youngest captain. Lock Will Rowlands misses out on the 23-man squad because of a personal issue.
Scotland: Scotland back Blair Kinghorn is absent with a knee injury, so Glasgow Warriors back Kyle Rowe makes his Six Nations debut at full-back.
Co-captain Rory Darge is hoping to be available next week as he recovers from a knee problem, while a thigh injury will keep wing Darcy Graham out for at least the opening two Tests.
Props Alec Hepburn and Elliot Millar-Mills are set for debuts from the bench.
Commentator’s notes
Andrew Cotter: Cardiff will present its familiar atmosphere, yet a lot of the faces will be less well-known with Wales losing experienced names to retirement, injury, or an American football dream.
But what a chance for those such as Winnett, just turned 21, who makes his Welsh debut at full-back. And can Sam Costelow make the fly-half jersey his own?
Scotland have their own absentees – they will certainly miss Kinghorn after his knee injury for Toulouse and the game comes a week too soon for joint-captain Darge on the flank, yet the visitors still start as slight favourites.
That is partly down to the struggles of Welsh clubs, but the red jersey has so often galvanised and lifted players whatever their struggles elsewhere. It is just one of the reasons why Scotland haven’t won in the Welsh capital for 22 years.
Wales will hope that the Cardiff – or Gatland effect – is enough to carry them to victory again.
View from both camps
Wales head coach Warren Gatland: “We are at home and Scotland haven’t won here in Cardiff for a long time. It is a full stadium and we’ve got a responsibility to go and deliver a performance.
“The enthusiasm of this young group of players has been exceptional over the last few weeks. I am really excited about this group that we’ve got, building with some youngsters who I think are really going to grow, develop and impress.
“Those young players get out there and learn what it is like to play in front of 75,000 people where things are happening quicker than you would normally experience.
“I think they can go out there with no fear with the way they have prepared.”
Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend: “We don’t talk about why we’ve struggled in Cardiff in the past but we talk about the record.
“Not many have played throughout those years, although a few played here two years ago when we we didn’t perform and produce our best rugby.
“You have defeats and wins in your Test career and the one against Ireland [the 36-14 loss at the 2023 World Cup] is more in our minds than the one two years ago, and certainly those 10 or 20 years before that.”
Line-ups
Wales: 15-Winnett, 14-Dyer, 13-Watkin, 12-Tompkins, 11-Adams, 10-Costelow, 9-G Davies; 1-Domachowski, 2-Elias, 3-Brown, 4-D Jenkins (capt), 5-Beard, 6-Botham, 7-Reffell, 8-Wainwright
Replacements: 16-Dee, 17-Mathias, 18-Assiratti, 19-Teddy Williams, 20-Mann, 21-Tomos Williams, 22-I Lloyd, 23-Grady
Scotland: 15-Rowe, 14-Steyn, 13-Jones, 12-Tuipulotu, 11-Van der Merwe; 10-Russell (capt), 9-White; 1-Schoeman, 2-Turner, 3-Z Fagerson, 4-R Gray, 5-Cummings, 6-Crosbie, 7-Ritchie, 8-M Fagerson
Replacements: 16-Ashman, 17-Hepburn, 18-Millar-Mills, 19-Skinner, 20-Dempsey, 21-Horne, 22-Healy, 23-Redpath
Match facts
Head-to-head
- Wales have won 13 of their past 16 Six Nations Tests against Scotland.
- However, Scotland’s 35-7 victory at Murrayfield in 2023 was their biggest ever against Wales.
- The Scots have lost 11 games in Cardiff since 2002, with nine of those defeats in the Six Nations.
Wales
- Wales have registered one victory from their past eight Six Nations matches, losing the other seven.
- They’ve lost four Six Nations home Tests in a row, their worst run since the tournament began in 2000.
- They scored the fewest points of any side last year with a total of 84, five fewer than Italy.
Scotland
- Scotland have won their opening Six Nations fixture in each of the past three years.
- The Scots have recorded three wins in five of the past seven Six Nations tournaments, including last year. By contrast, they picked up a hat-trick of wins just once in their initial 17 campaigns.
- They missed just 75 tackles in 2023, with every other nation registering triple figures.
- Gregor Townsend’s first Six Nations match in charge was a 34-7 defeat by Wales in Cardiff on the opening weekend of the 2018 tournament.
Match officials
Referee: Ben O’Keeffe (New Zealand)
Touch judges: James Doleman (New Zealand) & Angus Mabey (New Zealand)
TMO: Brendon Pickerill (New Zealand)
