Wales head into their second match of the 2016 Six Nations in a very unfamiliar position.
When they take on Scotland in Cardiff on Saturday, it will be on the back of neither a win nor a loss – but rather a draw which brought more questions than answers.
The draw in Dublin saw Wales seemingly toothless in attack as they failed to make a line break throughout the 80 minutes.
In all fairness to Warren Gatland’s side, they did look to play expansive rugby and go wide – something they have been criticised for not doing enough of.
And while nothing came off on Sunday, there were still promising signs of things to come.
So what must Wales do against Scotland to ensure their back line has a much more profitable time?
Play closer to the gain line
Far too often on Sunday, Wales went through numerous phases of play without really making any metres.
For some reason, the tactic of using Jamie Roberts on crash ball down the 10/12 channel was abandoned, with the inside centre sitting far deeper and spinning the ball wide more often.
While, in theory, it is good to see Wales and Roberts showing ambition to get it out wide, the fact is that their game plan on Sunday was very easy to defend against.
In the picture above, Wales have a clear overlap with just Jared Payne and Johnny Sexton covering in the backfield.
But Roberts, circled in white, is far too deep to commit the Irish defence and allows them to drift.
If he had been where the red circle is, he could have drawn his man before putting Liam Williams through.
But it isn’t just Roberts who was too deep – replacement fly-half Rhys Priestland did stand-off the Irish defence a little too much once or twice.
The Bath pivot is at his best when playing right on the gain line – his range of passing ensuring Wales make good ground.
But in the picture above, he is sat too far back – giving the Irish defence time to think.
If he takes the ball flat, the Irish defence has the chance to drift – leaving space on the outside.
Priestland’s next mistake is how lateral his movement is when he receives the ball – as shown in the picture below.
By moving sideways, he forces his outside backs to also crawl across the pitch – leaving them with less space to attack.
Drifting across the pitch is not necessarily a bad thing – Danny Cipriani and Matthew Morgan have had plenty of success doing it – but you must be close enough to the gain line to commit defenders and then teammates must run straight off you.
Everything Wales are doing in the images above would be fine if it was done on the gain line and not deep.
Target the back three
On Sunday, Wales failed to deal with the Irish wingers flying out of defence to take man and ball and stop any overlaps.
Scotland will employ something similar – with Tommy Seymour in particular having a tendency to rush out the line looking for an intercept.
While Ireland drift out wide, allowing their wings to rush forward, Scotland back line seems to work in two separate systems.
If Wales can suck Scottish defenders in by getting over the gain line, then large spaces will appear outside and behind the wings.
England used this tactic well at Murrayfield – leading to both their tries.
The space behind the back three became apparent early on after Anthony Watson skipped past Seymour.
As shown above, full-back Stuart Hogg rushed up to cover the wing spot left by Seymour and Watson had plenty of space to aim for.
Scotland did not learn their lesson and England scored their first try on the back off another kick behind.
Seymour, circled above, once again flew up, allowing Jack Nowell to get behind and kick behind the oncoming cover.
England’s second try again exposed Seymour.
Mako Vunipola’s pass to Owen Farrell commits two defenders, leaving Seymour to deal with a two-on-one on the outside.
Wales must look to expose Seymour in a similar fashion and force Hogg to cover his left-wing constantly – creating plenty of space in the backfield.
Put pressure on the half-backs
The half-back pairing of Greig Laidlaw and Finn Russell will be another supposed weakness that Gatland will look to exploit.
Laidlaw seems to be in the squad purely for his goal-kicking and captaincy – the scrum-half continually stalls the potent back line with his delivery and was slow to the breakdown against England.
Meanwhile, Russell is prone to making basic errors and never seems to sure of where to kick.
He also failed to notice Hogg following an intercept – kicking the ball away when a simple pass would have resulted in a try.
Wales must look to put pressure on these two and exploit their weaknesses.
Against Ireland, Wales back-row could not get a foothold at the breakdown as Ireland moved on the ball on quickly.
With Laidlaw not as sharp as Conor Murray and the ball likely to spend more time in the ruck, there will be an opportunity to get at Scotland in the tackle area and secure more turnovers and penalties.
