Shane Williams: Missed chances again, now let Giles try and take them

Wales‘ Six Nations title hopes are now over and they have only themselves to blame. The defeat to England was an opportunity missed and it was the same old story again at Murrayfield.
Wales created great opportunities but failed to finish them and until they learn to do that, they won’t be able to win these sorts of games, let alone challenge teams like the All Blacks.
I sound like a broken record and I’m sure Wales fans will be sick of seeing their team routinely fall short at crucial moments.
You have to give a lot of credit to Scotland – their second half display was hugely impressive and they deserved to win. But let’s be honest, this was a game Wales should have won.
It’s a first defeat to the Scots since 2007 and it will be interesting to see how the team and Rob Howley, right, bounce back from this. I’m sure the knives will be out for them now and I can understand why.
Wales can’t keep on making the same mistakes and hope to be successful.
It all started so well too and when Liam Williams scored Wales’ first try, I thought it was going to be a good day at the office. It looked like a simple score, but sometimes it’s easy to mess those sorts of situations up. Wales certainly have previous for doing that.
Rhys Webb was lively throughout and his quick free-kick immediately put the Scottish defence on the back foot. Scott Williams’ superb pass found Leigh Halfpenny, and Liam was over in the corner. It was a fine team try and a lesson in how to make the most of an opportunity presented to you. If only Wales could do that more often.
After their try there were more chances for Wales to score, but they didn’t take them and ultimately paid the price. Webb’s effort in the second half was ruled out and Jonathan Davies’ brilliant break came to nothing when the ball was knocked-on. These are the moments which define games. Had they scored at those times, I’m sure Wales would have gone on to win the match. They didn’t, and look what happened.
Many people will be wondering why Wales keep on bombing so many chances and I’m not entirely sure why that is. But what I do know is if they don’t improve that area of their game, Wales can forget about challenging the likes of England and New Zealand. The All Blacks would have converted the chances Wales had on Saturday. It’s as simple as that.
When I look back on the game, Wales were completely outplayed in the second half. They made a number of errors in defence which let Scotland score, despite their line speed being very impressive in the first half. They lacked composure with the ball after half time and when you do that in international rugby, it means you’re always going to struggle to compete. Wales lost the second half 20-0 and that tells you everything you need to know about what went on.
I’m sure Wales fans will talk about the missed chances, but for me another huge mistake they made was not going for goal early in the second half. It looked to me like Leigh Halfpenny was looking at the posts, but they ended up going for the corner. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but the end result saw a poorly executed line-out and a penalty leave Wales without any points. Only the players on the field will know what happened at that moment, but Wales will have to get to the bottom of it. If Dan Biggar overruled Alun Wyn Jones in terms of opting for the corner, then Wales have problems. The captain has to have the final say on big decisions like this. It was another example of Wales not helping themselves.
There have been far too many examples recently of Wales losing concentration at key times. I thought Sam Warburton, Webb and Justin Tipuric were excellent in the first half, but that will all be forgotten with the result. They struggled to get any possession in the second half and weren’t patient enough either. Scotland showed them how to play in the wide channels and once they got a sniff of confidence, they ran with it.
The tries for Tommy Seymour and Tim Visser were excellent team efforts and Finn Russell was deservedly named man of the match. One other thing that impressed me about Scotland was their kicking game. They killed Wales in that area. They kicked to compete with their high balls, with Visser and Seymour really enjoying that battle. They got the better of Liam Williams and George North in that area which helped to put them on the front foot.
George was totally anonymous in Edinburgh and I can barely remember him getting a touch in the Scottish half. His display was nowhere near that of a British Lion, but you can’t say the same about Stuart Hogg. I thought he was outstanding again and the more you watch him, the more you think he has to start at full-back against the All Blacks.
Warren Gatland was at Murrayfield and he must have been impressed by what he saw. What I liked about Hogg was that he was actually very quiet for the first quarter of the game. He didn’t get much ball, but as soon as he received one loose Welsh kick, he ran it back with intent and produced a superb little grubber that put Huw Jones away. Only a superb tackle and turnover from Tipuric saved what would have been a certain try.
As Scotland grew into the game and dominated the second half, Hogg became even more influential. He played an important role in both of his team’s tries and is already on the plane to New Zealand this summer.
Scotland deserved to win and they can now head into their game with England with confidence. For Wales, it’s back to the drawing board. Their last two games at home to Ireland and away to France are tough encounters and there’s now a real chance they could end this Six Nations with just one victory. That would be a disaster for Rob Howley.
I’m not sure he’ll make many changes, but I’d like to see a couple of fresh faces involved in the last two games. Keelan Giles could come into the equation after his hamstring injury and he’s someone who knows how to take chances when they come his way. As we saw here, Wales can’t do that at the moment so maybe Keelan could be the one to show them how to do it.