The only Sunday kick off in this weekend’s Six Nation’s fixtures sees Wales welcome Scotland to the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.
The two sides endured contrasting fortunes in the opening round of the Championship with Wales clinching a late but deserved win over Ireland in Dublin while the Scots butchered an opportunity to beat England at Murrayfield.
Andy Robinson will have been furious with the lack of accuracy from his side who had more than enough ball and opportunities to claim the scalp of the English. The Scottish pack performed well as a unit at times but the lack of penetration out wide continues to hurt them.
Wales have no such problems with a plethora of highly talented and frequently enormous outside backs coming through their ranks. George North caused all sorts of havoc for the Irish defence as the Welsh stormed over the gain line time and time again.
Even with a host of injuries, particularly up front, Wales still look a very decent side with plenty of weapons in their arsenal. Mike Phillips is a dominant presence behind his pack with the midfield combination of Jamie Roberts and Jonathan Davies hugely dynamic and powerful.
Warren Gatland has reshuffled his pack ahead of the encounter with Gethin Jenkins and Dan Lydiate returning from injury to occupy their roles at loosehead and flanker. Ryan Jones then moves into the second row in place of the suspended Bradley Davies.
The Scotland team for the clash shows two changes from last weeks disappointing loss. The retirement of Dan Parks with immediate effect means Greig Laidlaw is handed his first Test start with the Edinburgh player set to start at fly-half.
The only other change to the side that went down 13-6 at Murrayfield sees prop Geoff Cross taking his place over Euan Murray, who does not play on Sundays for religious reasons.
Given the amount of firepower in the Welsh backline, it is difficult to see anything other than a victory for Gatalnd’s side as they march towards a potential grand slam decider with France.
Wales: Leigh Halfpenny; Alex Cuthbert, Jonathan Davies, Jamie Roberts, George North; Rhys Priestland, Mike Phillips, Gethin Jenkins, Huw Bennett, Adam Jones; Ryan Jones, Ian Evans; Dan Lydiate, Sam Warburton (capt), Toby Faletau.
Replacements: Ken Owens, Paul James, Lou Reed, Andy Powell, Lloyd Williams, James Hook, Scott Williams.
Scotland (XV v Wales): R Lamont; L Jones, N de Luca, S Lamont, M Evans; G Laidlaw, C Cusiter; A Jacobsen, R Ford, G Cross, R Gray, J Hamilton, A Strokosch, R Rennie, D Denton.
Replacements: S Lawson, E Kalman, A Kellock, J Barclay, M Blair, D Weir, S Hogg.