Six Nations: Wales 34-7 Scotland

Wales made a dream start to the 2018 Six Nations as they crushed Scotland in a bonus-point win at the Principality Stadium.

The home team rocked the much-fancied Scots with early tries by Gareth Davies and Leigh Halfpenny.

After the break Halfpenny completed a 24-point haul with two penalties and a second try before Steff Evans dived over for the bonus-point try.

The visitors only managed a 79th minute try through Peter Horne.

Gatland claimed his 50th win as Wales coach in a match that marked the 10th anniversary of his first match in charge. It was also Wales' 50th win in the expanded Six Nations tournament.

• Read more: Scotland display 'shocks' Townsend

Wales went into the game without six first-choice players because of injury

Ruthless Wales

The Scots had travelled in hope after beating Wales for the first time in 10 years in 2017, but were ruthlessly taken apart in the second half.

The visitors could not break free from a smothering defence as Wales extended their winning home run against them past 16 years.

Full-back Halfpenny had not scored a Test try in five years and he also nailed six out of six kicks at goal for a personal best tally in a Test match.

But he was beaten to the man of the match award by flanker Aaron Shingler, who was part of a superb Welsh back row.

Having dazzled in the autumn series against Australia and New Zealand, Scotland could not get their running game going while Wales confounded predictions with their attacking intent.

Their power game in the later stages, however, came as no surprise while Scotland paid a heavy price for errors.

Making light of injuries

Gareth Davies scores the first Wales try

So much of the talk before the game was about injuries. But Scotland's scrum was not dominated in spite of missing nine front-row players, while Wales made light of the absence of eight British and Irish Lions.

Wales coach Warren Gatland's decision to start with 10 players from one region paid rich dividends as all their points were scored by Scarlets.

In reality, after a lightning-fast start, Finn Russell failed to trouble Wales' midfield of Hadleigh Parkes and Scott Williams and Halfpenny handled the kicks well, sometimes under intense pressure.

And some of the rugby - particularly in the early stages - left the crowd breathless.

Flying start

Scotland could have scored in the first two minutes when Jonny Gray galloped through a gap after Davies' poor touch kick handed them an attacking platform.

And they still had Wales on the rack when Ali Price's pass was intercepted by the predatory Davies who sprinted 70 metres for the opening try.

Wales were 12 points ahead in as many minutes when Halfpenny crossed for his first try in 35 Tests, ignoring an unmarked Josh Adams on the right to burst through Huw Jones' tackle on the line.

Jonny Gray, seen here on the run against Wales is the younger brother of Scottish and British and Irish Lion international Richie Gray

And that followed a let-off for Scotland after Steff Evans dropped a wayward pass five metres from the line after a thrilling move involving Rob Evans, Cory Hill and Alun Wyn Jones.

Scotland had more possession and territory, with Russell and Stuart Hogg counter-attacking dangerously. But a combination of handling errors and turnovers meant they could not manage a score in the first half.

Halfpenny's two penalties early in the second half killed the game as a contest and when he dived over for his second try, it was a question of how many points Wales would score.

Evans' acrobatic dive earned Wales first-ever try bonus point in the Six Nations and by the time replacement Horne crossed, Scotland were having to reappraise their Six Nations campaign.

Man of the match

There were many Wales contenders but Scarlets flanker Aaron Shingler shone in his 14th Test for Wales

What's next?

Scotland must regroup before they host France at Murrayfield on Sunday, 11 February, while Wales journey to face reigning champions England in Twickenham on Saturday, 10 February.

What they said - 'I was expecting it'

Wales head coach Warren Gatland: "It was an afternoon I was expecting the way we've trained in the week. There was a quiet confidence in the squad.

"We expected to win and win reasonably comfortably. The chief executive of the Welsh Rugby Union asked me yesterday how I thought we'd go and I said I thought we'd win by 20.

"Apart from a soft try at the end it was a great defensive display and it was great to get the bonus point as well and we can improve again for next week."

Scotland captain John Barclay on BBC One: "I'm speechless - there were a lot of errors. Today we tried to find the tempo we had in the autumn but couldn't find the accuracy and that's the end result.

"We'll have a look back but there were too many individual errors and too many missed tackles. Our line-out didn't function all that well and when we got the ball we gave it away.

"It's hard to find positives, I'm sure there will be some. Wales were superb today and we've got a lot of work to do."

Wales: Halfpenny; Adams, Williams, Parkes, S Evans; Patchell, G Davies; R Evans, Owens, Lee, Hill, AW Jones (captain), Shingler, Navidi, Moriarty.

Replacements: Dee (for Owens, 62), W Jones (for Evans, 50), Francis (for Lee, 50), B Davies (for Hill, 55), Tipuric (Moriarty, 64), A Davies (for G Davies, 65), Anscombe (for Patchell, 62), Watkin (for Williams, 70).

Scotland: Hogg; Seymour, Harris, H Jones, McGuigan; Russell, Price; Reid, McInally, Welsh, Toolis, Gray, Barclay (captain), Watson, Du Preez.

Replacements: Lawson (for McInally, 69), Bhatti (for Reid, 48), McCallum (for Welsh, 64), Gilchrist (for Toolis, 54), Wilson (for Du Preez, 48), Laidlaw (for Price, 48), Horne (for Harris, 54), Maitland (for McGuigan, 54).

Match officials

Referee: Pascal Gauzere (France)

Touch judges: Romain Poite (France) & Matthew Carley (England)

TMO: David Grashoff (England)