Six Nations 2022: Wales shaking off Covid impact rustiness - Ryan Elias
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Six Nations 2022: Dan Biggar kicks 15 points to help Wales beat Scotland - highlights
Hooker Ryan Elias has admitted some Wales players were rusty going into the Six Nations.
Elias was inspirational and man of the match as Wales bounced back from opening weekend defeat by Ireland to beat Scotland 20-17 in Cardiff.
The Scarlets hooker was among the players who had lacked games before the tournament because of Covid-19.
"A few of us were lacking game time coming into the competition," said Elias.
United Rugby Championship (URC) league trips to South Africa for Scarlets and Cardiff at the end of last year were disrupted because of Covid-19 with both sides having to quarantine for at least 10 days in a hotel.
The majority of Welsh derbies over Christmas were then also postponed because of the pandemic.
Elias, 27, had been one of Wales' leading lights in the autumn series after starting all four matches, but he did not play a game for five weeks following the end of that international campaign.
"I thought I did alright [in the autumn] and wanted to kick on from there," added Elias.
"I wanted to keep that run going and try to build some momentum.
"I went back to club rugby and with the Covid situation, and getting stuck in South Africa, we ended up having a load of games called off which wasn't ideal."
Elias and the Wales front-five were criticised after losing the physical battle against Ireland, but the starting quintet imposed themselves against Scotland, with locks Will Rowlands and Adam Beard producing outstanding displays.
"Watching that game back last week, we weren't at the races in a lot of areas," said Elias.
"We spoke about it and hopefully we put a lot of things right.
"We had a long hard look at ourselves following the Irish match, there was nobody more disappointed than the players.
Ryan Elias played in his 25th international against Scotland
"We didn't fire any shots and physically we weren't there.
"There were quite a few areas we wanted to get better at, and one of them was the physicality side of things.
"For us forwards, it was a case of wanting to front up and get stuck into them.
"We knew it was going to be a tough game. Scotland are a physical side and pose a different sort of threat to what Ireland did.
"Set-piece wise I thought the scrum and line-out was a lot better. We got into our maul game, and tried to play on top of them, which helped us get the victory."
That allowed the platform for captain Dan Biggar to clinch the win with a late drop-goal as part of a 15-point haul, despite the fly-half battling with a knee injury.
"He took a knock early doors and I thought the way he was rolling around he could be going off," added Elias.
"It's just a testament to the bloke and player he is. He's so resilient and had a great game."
Elias knows Wales will have to at least maintain the physical performance against England at Twickenham on 26 February.
"We've got to build on what we've done here," he said.
"More of the same and hopefully go up another gear against the English because it's a tough old Test match up in Twickenham.
"You know they have a big pack and are always going to pose a massive threat physically so we need to try and go up another gear."
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