Ex-Scotland captain claims referee was influenced in Wales win as he pinpoints the moment it all started to go wrong for Scots

Former Scotland captain Rory Lawson believes referee Nic Berry was influenced by a passionate Cardiff crowd as he pinpointed exactly where it started to go wrong for the visitors against Wales.

The Principality Stadium hosted a sell-out Six Nations crowd for the first time in two years on Saturday as Wayne Pivac's side ground out a tight 20-17 win just a week after defeat in Dublin.

While Wales often cite a partisan home crowd as their 16th man on the field and the motivation the fans offer is well-known, former scrum-half Lawson claims it may have had an effect on the man in the middle as well during the tight game.

"The influence that this crowd has on the players, I think they grow, they have an element of having a superhero costume on underneath their strips," he told the Rugby Union Daily podcast.

"But I also think it influences the officials and Nic Berry, and I feel that in a game that is as close as that... those small decisions from the officials make a big difference. When you actually break it down and pick through the bones of everything, it's been a game that's been decided across a small number of moments that have added up.

"Whether you talk about the Dan Biggar drop goal, I think if Scotland had won you could have easily looked at a penalty 20 minutes in when Wales, I think it was Jac Morgan, went into kickchase before it had been played onside. Those are the moments that you forget about when it comes to the 80th minute but as they accumulate across the game, they all play a massive influence."

Scotland were on the wrong side of a 13-8 penalty count in the Welsh capital and, in Lawson's view, an early warning from Berry about further infringements at the ruck resulting in a yellow card had a major