Rugby betting: Six Nations - Wales vs Scotland

It's amazing to think that Dan Parks and Chris Paterson missed just one attempt at the posts in the whole of the World Cup. Reunited for Scotland's trip to Cardiff, the Welsh should be wary of gaining too much confidence ahead of the two teams' clash in the Millennium Stadium. Click here for a free £25 to bet on Six Nations rugby with Totesport Wales exploited England's failings in the second half at Twickenham last week and if England had simply closed the game out early after the break, we might have been discussing here the merits of backing Scotland on the handicap. Stan James are most confident about Wales's chances in this fixture as they give Frank Hadden's men an 11-point start, where firms like Bet365 and VCbet only offer a nine-point advantage to the visitors. It's a tough line to contest because Scotland have historically lost by around that sort of margin in the principality and there was nothing to suggest in last week's 27-6 loss to the French that anything would be much different this time around. That was until Paterson came on. His incisive running burst into life late in the second half when he was held up over the line after fly-hacking the ball through the French defence. If the winning mentality of his time at Gloucester has rubbed off on him, he could easily galvanise the Scots. The Welsh team is the Neath-Swansea Ospreys side in all but name given that new coach Warren Gatland has named 12 of that region's players in the starting line-up. Last week's performance when demolishing England at Twickenham in the second half had all the hallmarks of a Gatland-Shaun Edwards revival as Wales used a blitz defence. It involved cutting off the supply chain to the wings and directing the heavy traffic to where Wales felt they could deal with it the most effectively. Scotland have never really attempted to spin the ball far and wide and it is for this reason most likely that Ladbrokes pitch their total points quote at as low as 40.5. Both teams are bound to resort to the comfort blanket of their dead-eyed kickers early on and with Scotland making 19 errors last week against France, the 6/4 that Wales open the scoring with a penalty looks fair value. Verdict: 1pt Wales penalty first scoring play @ 6/4 (Totesport) Click here for a free £25 to bet on Six Nations rugby with Totesport