Scotland 23-26 Wales
Cotter struggles to hide frustration
ESPN Staff
February 15, 2015
Mark Bennett has a try disallowed for Scotland © PA
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Scotland head coach Vern Cotter cut a frustrated figure after seeing his team suffer a second successive defeat of this season's Six Nations.

Eight days after going down narrowly to France in Paris, Scotland suffered another painful loss, being edged out 26-23 by Wales.

It was Wales' eighth win in a row against Scotland, and as they revived their title hopes, the Scots are now left heading for a potential mid-table finish.

Marginal gains guide Wales to glory

© Getty Images
  • In the end it was hard not to feel sorry for Scotland; so much fire and enterprise in their first two matches and so little to show for it.
  • That least desirable of near-annual events, a potential wooden spoon decider against Italy, looms again. Both teams have played some excellent rugby in losing four matches between them, so it will probably be a shocker.
  • Read the full verdict from Murrayfield here

"There are a lot of things we don't have control of," Cotter said.

"I don't want to lose a lot of energy talking about it because it isn't going to change the result.

"What we can do is take some positive things out of the game, and things we have improved on from from Paris, and for me that is encouraging. This game illustrates areas we need to work on.

"Somebody will look at the referee display or decisions made on the paddock. We have things to sort out, and perhaps they will have as well.

"There were three penalties inside their 22 in the last 15 minutes. I thought some of those errors might have been cynical as well and maybe deserved a yellow card, but obviously not.

"That is the way it is. We deal with reality.

"The reality is that we got close and showed some good signs and played some good rugby, but we have to improve on our high-ball reception."

Scrum-half Rhys Webb and centre Jonathan Davies scored tries for Wales, while full-back Leigh Halfpenny kicked 16 points. Scotland replied with touchdowns from full-back Stuart Hogg and substitute lock Jim Hamilton, while skipper Greig Laidlaw booted 11 points and fly-half Finn Russell added a conversion.

Laidlaw said: "I felt it was a tight Test match. The result shows that.

"We scored a great try in the first-half, but fell away a wee bit after that. We finished very strongly in the end there, and as Vern touched on, there was six penalties in the 22. I was disappointed not to get anything out of that.

"It's very frustrating. We talked about small margins after the result out in Paris.

"As Vern said, we've got to keep working and improve our game. This group of players is becoming a strong team. I really believe we're not far away, and we need to keep believing.

"We've got a massive game against Italy at home (in two weeks), and all that matters now is that we turn up in that game and get a positive result."

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