Six Nations: Wales hammered 35-7 by Scotland

'There's going to be some grenades coming" said skipper Ken Owens after defeat to Scotland

Wales slumped to their fourth defeat in a row on Saturday night, suffering a 35-7 hammering at the hands of Scotland in Edinburgh.

The hosts got the crowd going in the seventh minute when Huw Jones made a searing break up the middle of the field. Wales' scramble defence prevented a try but Finn Russell knocked over three points after the visitors were pinged for offside.

Wales then created their own problems. A miscommunication between Rio Dyer and Dan Biggar resulted in a rushed clearance and gave Scotland good field position. Tommy Reffell was then penalised at a breakdown and Russell extended Scotland's lead to 6-0.

Gatland's side worked some good field position shortly after but let Scotland off the hook twice. First there was a lost lineout five metres out and then a penalty a scrum from the same distance.

To cap a wasteful few minutes, Biggar then missed a penalty from 40 metres out but bang in front of the posts.

Welsh indiscipline then gave Scotland easy access to the 22. Hooker George Turner peeled off a maul and crashed over the line. Russell's conversion just after the half hour mark made it 13-0.

Moments later, Turner was sent to the sin bin for a high tackle on George North.

With a man advantage, Wales struck immediately. A penalty was kicked to the corner and the driving maul did the damage, dragging skipper Ken Owens over the line for a much-needed try. Biggar converted with five minutes to go in the first half.

• ITV Wales' Sports Reporter Matt Southcombe spoke to fans ahead of the match.

Dyer then dropped the ball with the line at his mercy shortly before half time.

The score at the break was 13-7 in favour of the hosts.

Wales had to withstand a barrage of pressure in the opening 10 minutes of the second period, with their scramble defence again being called into action on a number of occasions.

But eventually the dam burst in the 52nd minute when Russell gave winger Kyle Steyn an easy finish with a sumptuous offload. The fly-half's conversion made it 20-7.

The Scottish onslaught kept coming and Liam Williams was sent to the sin bin for killing the ball after a flurry of Welsh penalties. Scotland exploited the extra space brilliantly and Steyn scored his second in the corner.

Back-to-back penalties moved Scotland into Wales' half again with eight minutes remaining and the bonus point try soon followed.

Russell's cross-kick found a rampaging Duhan van der Merwe and the offload inside went to Blair Kinghorn, who powered over.

And there was still time for Matt Fagerson to rub salt in the wounds with the final score of the match in the 79th minute.

Scotland: Stuart Hogg; Kyle Steyn, Huw Jones, Sione Tuipulotu, Duhan van der Merwe; Finn Russell, Ben White; Pierre Schoeman, George Turner, Zander Fagerson; Richie Gray, Grant Gilchrist; Jamie Ritchie (C), Luke Crosbie, Matt Fagerson.

Reps: Fraser Brown, Jamie Bhatti, WP Nel, Jonny Gray, Jack Dempsey, George Horne, Blair Kinghorn, Chris Harris.

Wales: Liam Williams; Josh Adams, George North, Joe Hawkins, Rio Dyer; Dan Biggar, Tomos Williams; Wyn Jones, Ken Owens (C), Dillon Lewis; Dafydd Jenkins, Adam Beard; Christ Tshiunza, Tommy Reffell, Jac Morgan.

Reps: Scott Baldwin, Rhys Carre, Leon Brown, Rhys Davies, Taulupe Faletau, Rhys Webb, Rhys Patchell, Alex Cuthbert.