Wales target physicality as key area for improvement against Scotland

Jonathan Humphreys says that physicality is “a big work-on” for Wales ahead of tackling resurgent Scotland in Saturday’s Guinness Six Nations clash.

Former Wales captain Sam Warburton highlighted a major difference between the Irish and Welsh front-five forwards in terms of ball-carrying and breaking the gain-line after Ireland claimed an emphatic 29-7 success last weekend.

Wales have not lost their opening two games of a Six Nations campaign since 2007, but they now meet a Scotland side buoyant following an impressive Calcutta Cup victory over England.

“We talked a lot about physicality on both sides of the ball, and we came up second-best there,” Wales assistant coach and forwards specialist Humphreys said.

“It certainly wasn’t attitude. There are a few things structurally that we’ve looked at that will give us a little bit more momentum to help our ball-carriers.

“But it’s a really tough place to go in terms of the physicality that they (Ireland) bring. It’s a big work-on for us that we need to improve before we play Scotland.

“We are working hard this week in terms of trying to create that momentum to allow us to move forward on to the ball, rather than be static, as we were on the weekend.

“We can say we need to be more physical, but how are we going to be more physical? That is what we are working on.

“We don’t just want people to run harder or tackle harder. They are throw-away words. We are on about, technically, how do we get into those positions to be able to get dominance?

“You see Ireland on the weekend, they are winning collisions and they have quick ball. It is much easier, then, to get momentum and be on the front foot.”

Humphreys was Scotland forwards coach between 2013 and 2017, so he is fully aware of