A poor third quarter from Scotland ultimately denied them the chance to record a memorable victory at the Millennium Stadium as two yellow cards and three Welsh tries tipped the balance in favour of Warren Gatland’s men amid a high octane, high quality feast of Test rugby in Cardiff. For much of this frenetic RBS 6 Nations Championship encounter, Andy Robinson’s men were mightily impressive in both attack and defence, the early arrival of debutant Stuart Hogg from the bench adding real zip to their bid to threaten the Welsh rearguard while Greig Laidlaw, on his first Scotland start, and the Edinburgh Rugby back row pair of Ross Rennie and David Denton all put in epic shifts. A poor third quarter from Scotland ultimately denied them the chance to record a memorable victory at the Millennium Stadium as two yellow cards and three Welsh tries tipped the balance in favour of Warren Gatland’s men amid a high octane, high quality feast of Test rugby in Cardiff. For much of this frenetic RBS 6 Nations Championship encounter, Andy Robinson’s men were mightily impressive in both attack and defence, the early arrival of debutant Stuart Hogg from the bench adding real zip to their bid to threaten the Welsh rearguard while Greig Laidlaw, on his first Scotland start, and the Edinburgh Rugby back row pair of Ross Rennie and David Denton all put in epic shifts. Laidlaw crossed for his first international try in the 64th minute, shortly after Hogg had been denied a score of his own by a dubious knock-on call from referee Romain Poite. By this stage, however, Scotland had left themselves too much to do. Having turned round on level terms (3-3), the visitors lost Nick De Luca and Rory Lamont to the sin bin for professional fouls within nine minutes of each other. Wales took full advantage, Leigh Halfpenny crossing twice and Alex Cuthbert adding a further dot to keep the hosts on course for the Triple Crown. Scotland will take plenty from this game, arguably significantly more than was the case last week against England, but know they will need to produce an 80-minute performance to stand a chance of seeing off France in their next Championship fixture at Murrayfield on Sunday 26 February (kick-off 3pm) Wales v Scotland gallery Wales were forced into a late personnel change, skipper Sam Warburton suffering from a dead leg. His place in the back row was claimed by Aaron Shingler, with Ryan Jones taking over the captaincy.  Scotland made a positive opening, winning an early penalty at the breakdown which proved just out of Laidlaw’s range. The Scots were anxious to secure quicker ruck ball than was the case in last week’s Calcutta Cup defeat, and when scrum-half Chris Cusiter was able to bring the likes of Richie Gray and Denton onto the ball at pace, there was an evident threat to the visitors’ play. Wales, too, looked sharp in attack, with any number of dangerous performers in the broken field and a willingness to put the ball through the hands at pace. Scotland were required to defend with precision, and this they did to good effect, Jim Hamilton registering a terrific 14th minute hit on Welsh man-mountain George North to let the winger know he wasn’t going to get things all his own way. There was a tremendous pace and physicality to the game, both sides determined not to cede any ground or edge. The Scots could draw encouragement from how they managed to disrupt a couple of Welsh lineouts, limiting the hosts’ attempts to wreak havoc off first phase. Hogg, the Glasgow Warriors back who first emerged at Hawick, got a first taste of international rugby before the first quarter was out, coming on for Max Evans after the Castres winger appeared to injure an ankle. Hogg, the youngest Scot to make an international appearance in close to half a century, went to full-back, with Rory Lamont heading to the wing. The Scots went ahead in the 23rd minute courtesy of a Laidlaw penalty, the Jed man’s first points in international rugby, after a Welsh hand was spotted in the ruck. Immediately before, Laidlaw’s clubmates Denton and Rennie had combined smartly on the shortside to launch another promising attack that, with a little more support, could have reaped further rewards. (Wales 0 Scotland 3) Wales levelled things up on the half-hour, Halfpenny knocking over a penalty from just shy of the Scottish 10m line after Alasdair Strokosch was caught offside. (Wales 3 Scotland 3) That slight mishap aside, Scotland were defending aggressively and attentively all across the pitch. Rennie, so adept in a constructive capacity over the first two rounds of the Championship, showcased his terrific spoiling work at the breakdown, while Cusiter popped up with some excellent tackles that told of a team keen to make amends for last Saturday’s disappointment. Pleasing though all this endeavour undoubtedly was, it shouldn’t detract from the fact that Scotland were also contributing heavily to the game in an attacking sense. A 21-phase move just before the interval, through which the men in blue showed admirable composure and patience, threatened to end in glory, but an unfortunate Allan Jacobsen knock-on in sight of the Welsh line prompted a frustrating anti-climax. Wales lost the influential North to injury midway through that episode, James Hook coming on in the Scarlets player’s stead. Half-Time: Wales 3-3 Scotland After such an evenly-matched first period, it was intriguing to see who would grab the initiative in the third quarter, and sadly for Scotland, Wales immediately hit their straps. Cusiter failed to deal with the kick off, fumbling it into touch, and from the resulting lineout, the Welsh launched a penetrating raid. First they probed left, before switching the point of attack to the right. Cuthbert got up a head of steam and surged through the Scottish cover to touch down. Halfpenny duly converted. (Wales 10 Scotland 3) Things went from bad to worse for the Scots shortly afterwards as De Luca was sent to the sin bin for taking out his opposite number Jonathan Davies off the ball. Halfpenny made no mistake with the accompanying penalty to complete a wretched opening to the second half for Robinson’s troops. (Wales 13 Scotland 3) They did at least manage to make another incursion on the scoreboard, Laidlaw drilling over a second penalty after Wales were pulled up for going off their feet at the ruck. (Wales 13 Scotland 6) The respite was short lived. Desperate to further exploit their numerical advantage, Wales were swiftly on the front foot agagin and crossed for a second try when Halfpenny put the finishing touches to a flowing left to right move. The full-back converted to put the hosts 14 points to the good. (Wales 20 Scotland 6) Scotland were reduced to 13 men shortly after the score, Rory Lamont yellow carded for a professional foul on Hook. With a grim inevitability, Wales duly rumbed on to claim a third try. Toby Faletau broke from the base of a scrum and fed Mike Phillips, and with the depleted Scots desperately short of numbers, the scrum-half got away an offload to the unchecked Halfpenny. The Blues man took the acclaim of the red-clad supporters before adding a touchline conversion for good measure. (Wales 27 Scotland 6) To Scotland’s credit, they kept going, and Hogg seemed to have claimed a debut try on the back an excellent break from Lee Jones. Referee Poite, however, deemed that the 19-year-old had knocked on just before dotting down, a decision which brought an incredulous response from those of a Scottish persuasion. Undeterred, Hogg came again, popping up on the left wing this time and getting himself agonisingly close to the Welsh line before being held up. Scotland kept up the pressure, and Laidlaw burrowed under Faletau to register the team’s first try of the Championship. The Borderer’s conversion trimmed the deficit to 14 points. (Wales 27 Scotland 13) Scotland finished the game in the ascendancy, moving the ball at pace and stretching the Welsh defence to the full. Laidlaw looked to be through again after chasing his own speculative chip ahead, but was denied by an unlucky bounce of the ball that sent it into grateful Welsh hands. Incredibly, the pace of the game in the last ten minutes was as ferocious as it had been in the opening ten, Hogg and the Scotland back row continually to the fore once again.  Sadly, though, they ran out of time and opportunities to fully overhaul the third quarter mishaps. Wales Leigh Halfpenny; Alex Cuthbert, Jonathan Davies, Jamie Roberts, George North; Rhys Priestland, Mike Phillips; Gethin Jenkins, Huw Bennett, Adam Jones, Ryan Jones (C), Ian Evans, Dan Lydiate, Aaron Shingler, Toby Faletau Substitutes Ken Owens for Bennett (H-T), Paul James for A Jones (72min), Lou Reed for R Jones (75min), Andy Powell for Lydiate (72min), Lloyd Williams for Phillips (75min), James Hook for North (39min), Scott Williams for Roberts (78min) Scotland Rory Lamont; Lee Jones, Nick De Luca, Sean Lamont, Max Evans; Greig Laidlaw, Chris Cusier; Allan Jacobsen, Ross Ford (C), Geoff Cross, Richie Gray, Jim Hamilton, Alasdair Strokosch, Ross Rennie, David Denton SubstitutesScott Lawson for Ford (71min), Ed Kalman for Cross (59min), Al Kellock for Hamilton (59min), John Barclay for Strokosch (43min), Mike Blair for Cusiter (49min), Duncan Weir, Stuart Hogg for Evans (19min) Referee: R Poite (FFR)