A 24 point haul from full-back Leigh Halfpenny made sure Wales avenged last year’s BT Murrayfield defeat at the Principality Stadium. Gareth Davies interception try put Wales in command before Halfpenny darted through a gaping hole in the defence to end a five year wait for a Wales try.
He completed his brace after the break before Steff Evans made sure of the bonus-point with an acrobatic finish. England lie in wait next weekend as Wales aim to build on their perfect start, and Gatland is relishing the opportunity upset the NatWest Six Nations champions.
“I said a few weeks ago that the draw was great for us,” said Gatland. “We’ve got England and Ireland away and more often than not we’ve had a really tough opening fixture. Getting Scotland up first at home was great for us to get off to a winning start and a lot of the players wanted to make up for last year’s disappointment.
“That was the first time Wales had lost to Scotland for a long time and we’re happy to get a bonus-point win ahead of next week, when we go to a venue where we’ve had a lot of success in the last 10 years. We’re looking forward to it.”
A late Peter Horne try was the only blemish on an otherwise perfect afternoon for Gatland’s men. But Wales captain Alun Wyn Jones believes his side are only just starting to show what they are capable of.
“The early tries add pressure because when you have a lead you don’t want to lose it. We had to keep going, we were conscious not to sit on the lead. We went a bit attritional after the first 25 minutes, but we stuck to our processes and like Gats said, we’re disappointed to leave some tries out there.
“Everyone wants to start with a W, we’ve got that now. It wasn’t the complete performance by any stretch, it’s just the start. We’ve got another big week coming up and a trip to Twickenham.”
