Wales v Scotland

Wales were barely two years old as a rugby nation when Scotland handed them a rather blunt welcome to international football.

On 8 January 1883, Wales travelled to Raeburn Place in Edinburgh for the inaugural meeting between the two nations. Scotland won convincingly by three goals to one. The match formed part of the first Home Nations Championship, the precursor to what would eventually become the Six Nations. Wales were still in their infancy as an international side, having played their first ever Test only two years earlier against England.

Eleven titles in twenty years; the valleys had spoken.

Wales entered their first golden age of rugby in the 1890s, and the fixture with Scotland reflected the shift. Between 1893 and 1913, Wales won the Home Nations or Five Nations Championship on eleven occasions, frequently dispatching Scotland along the way. The Welsh pack, drawn heavily from the mining valleys, brought a physicality and collective spirit that proved difficult for any side to contain.

Scotland's housewarming gift to themselves was a Grand Slam; Wales received only the wind.

In 1925, Scotland opened Murrayfield as their new home ground, and promptly christened it with a Grand Slam season. The move from Inverleith gave Scotland a purpose-built rugby stadium that would become one of the most atmospheric venues in world rugby. For visiting Welsh sides, the trip to Edinburgh took on a new dimension: Murrayfield's vast terraces and biting wind made it a genuinely daunting away fixture.

A single point separated Wales from Scotland at Murrayfield; a whole decade separated the two nations thereafter.

The 1970s belonged to Wales. Under the captaincy of legends like Mervyn Davies and with the genius of Gareth Edwards, Barry John, and JPR Williams in the backline, Wales won Grand Slams in 1971, 1976, and 1978. Scotland were swept aside repeatedly during this era. The 1971 Grand Slam season saw Wales beat Scotland 19-18 at Murrayfield in a thriller that set the tone for the decade. It was rugby of a quality that still defines the Welsh national identity.

Fifty-nine years between Grand Slams; worth the wait, as Jim Aitken's Scotland proved in 1984.

Scotland claimed a Grand Slam in 1984 for the first time since 1925, beating France at Murrayfield to seal it. The side, captained by Jim Aitken and featuring the likes of David Leslie and John Rutherford, brought Scotland back to the top table of European rugby. Their victory over Wales that season was part of a campaign that proved Scotland could compete with anyone when the pieces fell into place.

When that retractable roof seals shut and 74,500 voices shake the steel, visiting teams are not so much playing rugby as surviving it.

The opening of the Millennium Stadium (now the Principality Stadium) in June 1999 gave Wales one of the finest rugby grounds on earth. Built on the site of the old Cardiff Arms Park, the 74,500-capacity stadium with its retractable roof created an enclosed cauldron of noise that visiting teams found deeply uncomfortable. When the roof closes and 'Bread of Heaven' echoes off the steel and glass, there are few more intense experiences in sport. Scotland's trips to Cardiff would never be the same.

Five became six, and suddenly the Wales v Scotland meeting had a far bigger stage to play on.

Italy's admission to the championship in 2000 expanded the Five Nations to Six, adding an extra fixture to the calendar and reshaping the tournament's dynamics. For Wales and Scotland, the change meant that their annual meeting now sat within a broader, more commercially significant competition. Television deals grew, hospitality packages became a fixture of match days, and the Wales v Scotland clash gained a wider audience than ever before.

Twenty-seven years of hurt, erased in a single breathless campaign that tore Murrayfield apart 46-22.

Wales's 2005 Grand Slam, their first in 27 years, was sealed with a 32-20 victory over Ireland in Cardiff. Along the way, they beat Scotland 46-22 at Murrayfield in a performance of devastating attacking rugby. Shane Williams, Gavin Henson, and Martyn Williams were at the peak of their powers. The campaign announced Wales's return as a genuine force and ushered in a period of sustained success under Warren Gatland from 2008 onwards.

Robinson's Scotland refused to gift Wales an inch; Murrayfield crackled with the friction of two proud nations scrapping for the championship's middle ground.

Under head coach Andy Robinson, Scotland began to rebuild their competitiveness in the early 2010s. Their 2010 Six Nations campaign saw them push several top sides close, and the fixture against Wales at Murrayfield remained one of the highlights of the Scottish rugby calendar. The rivalry took on fresh intensity as both nations jostled for position in the middle tier of the championship, with neither willing to concede ground to the other.

Wales lead the head-to-head, yet Scotland keep finding ways to make Cardiff and Edinburgh squirm.

By 2024, Wales and Scotland had met over 130 times, with Wales holding a clear lead in the overall head-to-head record. Yet the fixture retains its capacity to surprise. Scotland's resurgence under Gregor Townsend, built on the talents of Finn Russell and Stuart Hogg, has made them genuine contenders in the Six Nations once more. Whether the match falls in Cardiff or Edinburgh, it remains one of the championship's most eagerly anticipated fixtures, steeped in history and fuelled by genuine mutual respect between two proud rugby nations.