Six Nations 2026: Wales 23-26 Scotland – Gregor Townsend’s side battle back to win

Men’s Six Nations

Wales (17) 23

Tries: Carre, Adams Cons: Costelow 2 Pens: Costelow 2, Evans

Scotland (5) 26

Tries: Steyn, Russell, Graham, Turner Cons: Russell 3

Scotland battled back to inflict a heartbreaking Six Nations defeat on Wales in a thrilling game in Cardiff.

Gregor Townsend’s side trailed 20-5 and 23-12 but rallied in the second half with a 74th-minute try from replacement hooker George Turner sealing the victory.

It was the first time Scotland had led in the game after earlier tries from wing Kyle Steyn, replacement Darcy Graham and fly-half Finn Russell, who finished with 11 points.

The Graham try proved the turning point following some Russell magic and a Welsh defensive lapse from a restart.

Wales had scored tries from prop Rhys Carre and Josh Adams with 10 points from fly-half Sam Costelow.

Steve Tandy’s side will be devastated after a much-improved performance but Wales’ three-year Six Nations losing streak continues.

Scotland will win a first Triple Crown since 1990 if they can beat Ireland in Dublin on 14 March.

After an opening-day defeat by Italy in Rome, Scotland have bounced back with two victories.

Scotland have not beaten England, Ireland and Wales in the same tournament for 36 years.

The question was could Scotland buck the recent trend by backing up the impressive 31-20 win against England. The answer was yes after Scotland had lost six of their seven matches directly played after a win against England.

It is the first time Scotland have won four successive games against Wales for 100 years and the first back-to-back away success in Cardiff since 1984.

Wales have dropped to 12th in the world rankings while Scotland have risen two places to seventh.

Wales were outstanding in parts but have still suffered 14 successive Six Nations defeats in a streak stretching back to a win against Italy in Rome in March 2023 – some 1,078 days.

They have also lost 11 consecutive home matches in the tournament since beating Scotland in February 2022 – a gap of 1,470 days.

Wales have suffered a 24th defeat in 26 games since October 2023 and they have only won game in 15 matches at the Principality Stadium.

But the Wales team restored pride in front of their home fans with an encouraging performance, as Tandy just fell short against the Scottish side he had been defence coach for almost six years.

Home captain Dewi Lake said before the game they had to get the Principality Stadium rocking. They certainly did that in front of 70,649.

There is a fallow week now before Townsend’s side host France and face the trip to Dublin. Wales will also travel to play Ireland on 6 March before entertaining Italy eight days later.

Tandy’s response to heavy opening defeats against England and France, in which Wales conceded 15 tries and 102 points, was to make four changes.

Uncapped Leicester wing Gabriel Hamer-Webb, Scarlets fly-half Sam Costelow , Dragons second-row Ben Carter and Scarlets flanker Taine Plumtree coming in for Ellis Mee, Dan Edwards, Adam Beard and Olly Cracknell.

Wales made shocking starts in the opening two games but ensured that was not the case on this occasion.

Plumtree and Hamer-Webb both picked up injuries in the opening two minutes. Hamer-Webb was forced off briefly with a bloody nose before Plumtree was permanently replaced by James Botham because of a shoulder problem.

Wales’ discipline was again poor in the opening exchanges with two soft penalties, before Joe Hawkins was sent to the bunker for a high tackle on Scotland flanker Gregor Brown, who had moved from lock to the back row from the victory over England to replace the injured Jamie Ritchie.

Wing Josh Adams made a couple of important early interventions with a crucial tackle on Scotland centre Huw Jones followed by a vital interception.

Wales rallied with 14 men and after a searing break from scrum-half Tomos Williams, the home side produced an identical successful tap penalty move to last week when Carre dived over after the initial drive from Lake.

Hawkins’ card remained yellow as it was deemed a passive tackle but it was still an 11th sin-binning in Tandy’s seven games in charge.

Scotland took advantage of the extra back with a sweeping move that was finished by Steyn.

Hawkins returned and his fellow Scarlets centre Eddie James, along with Lake, Carre and flanker Alex Mann, laid the foundations for Adams to cross for his 24th Wales try.

Costelow, who was starting his first game since July 2025 with Edwards having played the past seven games, converted from the touchline.

Botham was outstanding after his early introduction and a turnover laid the foundations for a Costelow penalty.

Scotland made a couple of early tactical substitutions as prop Pierre Schoeman and back rower Josh Bayliss came on for Nathan McBeth and Max Williamson, with Brown reverting to lock.

After another storming Steyn break, a vital Mann turnover forced a penalty as Wales led 17-5 at half-time, the first time the home side had led under Tandy at the interval.

The 57,744 crowd against France was Wales’ lowest home attendance in the Six Nations, but the Principality Stadium atmosphere was electric with a spectacular half-time show.

Costleow slotted over his second penalty early to extend the deficit to 15 points.

Scotland showed the composure they had been lacking in the first half with a 27-phase move finished by Russell.

Wales lost Costelow to a leg injury with Jarrod Evans coming on and his first act was to slot over a simple penalty.

Scotland also made a raft of replacements, including the introduction of Edinburgh wing Graham for Van der Merwe.

Graham made an immediate impact as the visitors capitalised on an unforgivable Welsh error and a moment of Russell ingenuity.

Botham was sleeping from the restart and Graham gathered a quick Russell kick-off and out-sprinted Hamer-Webb to equal Van der Merwe’s Scotland try-scoring record. Russell converted from the touchline and the momentum shifted.

Scotland captain Sione Tuipulotu produced a strong tackle on Wales full-back Louis Rees-Zammit that yielded a penalty for the visitors but they could not initially take advantage.

The immense pressure was mounting on the Welsh defence with replacement Turner going over for the bonus-point try.

Russell slotted over the conversion and his late missed penalty was irrelevant as Scotland celebrated and Wales were left forlorn.

Wales: Rees-Zammit; Hamer-Webb, James, Hawkins, Adams; Costelow, T Williams; Carre, Lake (capt), Francis, Jenkins, Carter, Plumtree, Mann, Wainwright.

Replacements: Elias, Smith, Griffin, F Thomas, Botham, Hardy, J Evans, Murray.

Sin-bin: Hawkins 4

Scotland: Kinghorn; Steyn, H Jones, Tuipulotu (capt), van der Merwe; Russell, White; McBeth, Cherry, Z Fagerson, Williamson, Cummings, G Brown, Darge, M Fagerson.

Replacements: Turner, Schoeman, Mills, Gilchrist, Bayliss, G Horne, Jordan, Graham.

Referee: Matt Carley (RFU)

Assistant referees: Karl Dickson (RFU), Adam Leal (RFU)

TMO: Ian Tempest (RFU)

FPRO: Eric Gauzins (FFR).