Tompkins and Watkin are Wayne Pivac’s centre pairing for the game in Edinburgh after Wales lost Johnny Williams, George North and Jonathan Davies to injury.
Watkin of the Ospreys has 25 Wales caps and stated the 2019 Rugby World Cup quarter-final win over France. Tompkins of the Dragons will win his 10th cap at BT Murrayfield.
Asked how the pair have got to know each other in a short training week, Tompkins said: “I think a lot of people would expect it to be really difficult, but the good thing for me is I have a really good relationship with Owen.
“I obviously haven’t played with him, but I’ve trained with him a lot and we’re getting the conversations in.
“I’d be more worried if we didn’t have those things, especially if we hadn’t had those conversations because then it becomes very difficult.
“I feel very comfortable with Owen playing outside me or inside me – it doesn’t really bother me. It is tough without the training, but we are still preparing, talking, and doing what we can.
“From a preparation stand point and mentally in terms of the moves, we’re in a good position or if not better than normal. We just lack the mileage this week.
“We might not train as much, but we’ll be more rested and more ready for the game.”
Willis Halaholo, Nick Tompkins and Owen Watkin at BT Murrayfield
I feel very comfortable with Owen playing outside me or inside me – it doesn’t really bother me
Wales had just six days between their win over Ireland in round one and the Scotland game.
“It’s great to have Liam Williams coming back and Owen in the centre,” said Tompkins.
“Owen has got 25 caps for Wales and these boys bring a lot for us and add a lot.
“It’s not like we’re completely depleted or anything like that. We’ve still got a fairly decent side to go up there and give it all we’ve got.
“We underperformed in the Nations Cup and we feel like we did in last year’s Six Nations as well. We feel like we owe ourselves, the fans, and a lot of people performances.
“I’m not going to say results or outcomes – I think we owe them performances and the rest takes care of itself. For us that’s definitely the attitude.
“We’re going one game at a time but hopefully we can ride the momentum from the Ireland game going into this game against a Scotland side with a lot of motivation.
“They’re riding really high after the England win so it’s going to be a big one.”
You can keep in touch with both camps as we head for round two of the Guinness Six Nations for the Scotland v Wales clash on Saturday – we’ve got interviews, videos and social posts covered right here.
