Scotland v Wales, Six Nations 2023: What time is kick-off and what TV channel is it on?
Dan Biggar has questioned why Scotland are considered "the best team in the tournament" when they never "really back it up".
The comments from the Lions outside-half are bound to stoke up the tensions for Wales's Six Nations visit to Murrayfield today.
In fairness to Biggar, the record sheet emphatically supports his argument. Scotland have not won their opening two matches in the Championship for 27 years and this century have only twice followed up a win over Wales, England, Ireland or France by beating any of those big four in their next game.
"Scotland played well last week against England but, look, according to you guys they are the best team around aren't they?" Biggar told reporters. "We'll have to see how they go on Saturday, see if they can back it up. The pressure is all on them. They're red-hot favourites, 'best team in the tournament', so we'll see how they go."
He added: "I think our record is as good as anyone's in this competition over the previous 10 years or whatever. We don't seem to get any credit and other teams seem to get a lot of praise for probably not quite the success we've had. But that's how it goes."
When and where is Scotland v Wales?
Wales will travel to Scotland for their second match of the 2023 tournament today, with kick-off at Murrayfield in Edinburgh taking place at 4.45pm (GMT).
The other fixtures on the second weekend of the tournament are Ireland v France at 2.15pm, also today, and England v Italy at 3pm on Sunday.
What is the latest team news?
Wales
While the alterations in Wales's front row were somewhat forced – Gareth Thomas and Tomas Francis are both, to varying degrees, suffering niggles – Jones, Faletau and Tipuric were all available. It was almost unthinkable that none of these Lions would be in the line-up, but Gatland claimed they were all on board with the rationale.
"We had spoken to Alun Wyn before the campaign about not playing all the games as we need to see some of the youngsters in that position where we have got some talent, but they are young and inexperienced,” Gatland said.
"The decision-making at No 8 is who is our cover if Faletau gets injured. In fairness, they [Jones and Tipuric] have been brilliant. They understand our thinking. We know what they can do, but some of these youngsters we don't know what their potential is or how they are going to handle international rugby."
Starting XV: 15. Liam Williams, 14. Josh Adams, 13. George North, 12. Joe Hawkins, 11. Rio Dyer, 10. Dan Biggar, 9. Tomos Williams, 1. Wyn Jones, 2. Ken Owens, captain, 3. Dillon Lewis, 4. Dafydd Jenkins, 5. Adam Beard, 6. Christ Tshiunza, 7. Tommy Reffell, 8. Jac Morgan
Replacements: 16. Scott Baldwin, 17. Rhys Carre, 18. Leon Brown, 19. Rhys Davies, 20. Taulupe Faletau, 21. Rhys Webb, 22. Rhys Patchell, 23. Alex Cuthbert
Scotland
In contrast, there was only one change in Scotland’s XV, with Gregor Townsend bringing back in Zander Fagerson, with the prop recovered from a hamstring injury. The bookmakers have the home side at near 1-3 favourites to turn the tide of history.
Not only have they failed to win their first two games in the Championship in 27 years, but they have never beaten a Wales side coached by Gatland.
With the 2018 autumn international thrown in, Gatland has presided over 12 straight wins against Scotland, but this collision must be the biggest danger yet to his streak as Townsend’s men ride the confidence of a third successive win over England.
Starting XV: 15. Stuart Hogg, 14. Kyle Steyn, 13. Huw Jones, 12. Sione Tuipulotu, 11. Duhan van der Merwe, 10. Finn Russell, 9. Ben White, 8. Matt Fagerson, 7. Luke Crosbie, 6. Jamie Ritchie (capt.), 5. Grant Gilchrist, 4. Richie Gray, 3. Zander Fagerson, 2. George Turner, 1. Pierre Schoeman
Replacements: 16. Fraser Brown, 17. Jamie Bhatti, 18. WP Nel, 19. Jonny Gray, 20. Jack Dempsey, 21. George Horne, 22. Blair Kinghorn, 23. Chris Harris
What TV channel is Scotland v Wales on?
Scotland vs Wales will be broadcast on the BBC.
What happened in this fixture in 2022?
Wales bounced back from a humbling first-round defeat against Ireland on the road to edge the visitors 20-17.
Captain Dan Biggar played through injury to put on a heroic kicking performance, and Wales had an answer to the impeccable form of Darcy Graham and Finn Russell, making it 20 years since Scotland last won in Cardiff.
Who is the referee?
Referee Andrew Brace (IRFU) will take charge of the match, with assistance coming from Frank Murphy (IRFU) and Chris Busby (IRFU). Brian MacNeice (IRFU), meanwhile, will be television match official (TMO) for the day.
Scotland v Wales best of the latest odds
Scotland: 3/7
Draw: 25/1
Wales: 11/4
Odds correct as of February 11
What are they saying?
Warren Gatland has yet to lose to Scotland as Wales coach and the Kiwi’s 12-win streak has clearly injected much-needed confidence into the squad after last week’s 34-10 home mauling to Ireland.
“It’s not just Warren’s record, we have got a good record against them, as a team. I’ve only lost twice to Scotland myself (in nine appearances),” Dan Biggar said. “I’m not sure we can put our fingers on why, but Warren does instil a lot of belief in his players that whoever you are playing you are going to win. And if we do have a good record against a particular team then we tend to know what works against them.”
“They’ll fancy their chances, they’ve picked a strong side, lots of good players obviously who played well last week [when beating England] and they will be full of self-belief,” Biggar said. “But it was the same last year. We got off to a really slow start in Ireland and then played Scotland and you guys wrote us off beforehand and yet we rolled our sleeves up and did a job.
“We’re hoping that will be the same this weekend because if you listen to everyone – which is what is great about this game – we might as well not bother catching the flight this afternoon.”
What is our prediction?
Scotland 18 Wales 10
This is the moment Scotland must back up their famous victory over England against a Wales side still reeling from their Ireland defeat.
