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One point each Scotland fights back to earn 28-28 tie with Wales
Updated: Monday February 19, 2001 6:28 AM
EDINBURGH, Scotland (AP) -- Late tries by center James McLaren and prop Tom Smith earned Scotland a 28-28 tie with Wales in the Six Nations rugby union championship on Saturday. The Scots trailed 25-6 early in the second half and 28-16 with five minutes to go. But late pressure opened up the Welsh defense and the result means that each team, who lost their opening matches, has one point from two games, well behind England and Ireland who have four but ahead of Italy which has none. Welsh center Mark Taylor and Scottish fullback Chris Patterson also scored tries. But the Welsh lead was the result of the boot of Neil Jenkins, the world record points scorer in international rugby, who kicked three first half drop goals as well as a conversion and four penalties. Jenkins served notice of his intentions with a drop goal in the opening minute of the game and followed it up with a penalty in the sixth. Kenny Logan replied with a penalty but another Jenkins drop goal followed by a 40-meter penalty opened up a useful 12-3 lead for the visitor midway through the first half.
The fly half stunned the Scottish fans with his third drop goal and it became worse for the Scots when their 7-feet-1 (2.16 meter) lock forward, Richard Metcalfe, was sent to the sinbin for 10 minutes for a late tackle on Welsh center Scott Gibbs. Another Jenkins penalty stretched the lead to 18-3 before Logan replied for the Scots who went into half time trailing by 12 points but maintaining some pressure. Scotland started the second period with some good open play, but an over-ambitious pass by John Leslie was intercepted by Taylor deep in the Welsh half. The Welsh center sprinted unchallenged 70 meters for an opportunity try and Jenkins' conversion, his seventh successful kick of the game, made it 25-6. But the Scots refused to buckle and scored a brilliant try to hit back. Logan sucked in two tacklers in midfield and fed the ball out left to Patterson. The fullback had his Welsh counterpart Rhys Williams to beat but swerved past him and ran all the way to the line. Logan converted and the Welsh lead was cut to 25-13. The Scottish winger reduced the deficit to nine points with his third penalty midway through the second half and a rare Jenkins miss left the Scots with a chance of getting back into the game. But when Scottish back row Budge Pountney was penalized 12 minutes from the end, Jenkins made no mistake from 22 meters and the Welsh moved 12 points clear, leaving the Scots needing two converted tries in the last spell to win the game They applied strong pressure on the Welsh defense for a long spell and were rewarded with a second try five minutes from the end when McLaren took a pass from fly half Duncan Hodge and crashed through Taylor's tackle to go over near the posts. Amazingly, Logan missed the close range conversion and the Scots still had seven points to make up. It was all square with two minutes to go when prop forward Smith joined the backs line to collect a pass and, with the Welsh defense expecting another pass out left, he ran through a gap in the center for the score. Duncan Hodge took over the kicking duty from Logan and the Scottish fans roared as his 22-meter kick sailed between the posts. Lineups: Scotland -- Chris Paterson; Cameron Murray, James McLaren, John Leslie, Kenny Logan; Duncan Hodge, Andy Nicol (captain); Tom Smith, Gordon Bulloch, Mattie Stewart, Scott Murray, Richard Metcalfe, Martin Leslie, Budge Pountney, Jon Petrie. Wales -- Rhys Williams; Mark Jones, Mark Taylor, Scott Gibbs, Daffyd James; Neil Jenkins, Rob Howley; Darren Morris, Robin McBryde, David Young (captain), Ian Gough, Andy Moore, Colin Charvis, Martyn Williams, Scott Quinnell. Referee -- Steve Lander, England.
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