Scotland 11

Wales 18

WALES' Grand Slam-chasers arrived in Edinburgh looking to stretch a run of dominance over the Scots that already stood at 11 wins from their last 12 showdowns.

Lock Adam Beard's inclusion was the only change to the side that beat England last time out as he came in for the injured Cory Hill, with Warren Gatland resisting calls to bring Dan Biggar back into his starting line-up in place of fly-half rival Gareth Anscombe.

Scotland were boosted by the return of their own maverick 10 as Finn Russell shook off the head knock that saw the Racing 92 star miss out on the defeat to France a fortnight ago.

Stuart McInally led out the home side at Murrayfield as regular skipper Greig Laidlaw was replaced at scrum-half by Ali Price, while WP Nel and Darcy Graham were also handed starting jerseys.

Russell put the first points on the board with an 11th-minute penalty but Wales hit back two minutes later as Josh Adams scored for the third match running after dancing past Blair Kinghorn out wide.

Anscombe added the extras but another Russell penalty cut the deficit back to one point midway through the first period.

Anscombe fired over a penalty as Wales turned up the heat again.

Their concerted pressure paid off on the half-hour mark as they kept their composure through 23 phases, with Jonathan Davies making the decisive break to give his side a 15-6 lead with try number two.

Anscombe was off target with the conversion but his wayward kicking almost came to Wales' advantage just before the break when he slammed a penalty against the post, with the visitors unlucky not to score off the rebound.

It was a fired-up Scotland that came back out for the second period but two sloppy Russell passes initially let Wales off the hook.

Stuart McInally then thought he had broken through for the hosts but the Dark Blues skipper was held up by some brave defence on the line.

But the pressure finally told in the 59th minute as Graham slid over his first Test try after a sublime move that saw the ball worked through five pairs of hands before the Edinburgh wing was released in the corner. Russell's conversion sailed wide to leave Scotland four points down with 20 minutes left.

Graham was forced off with an injury soon after as Scotland finished the game with a makeshift back three of Byron McGuigan, Adam Hastings and Price.

But that did not stop them from taking the game to the Championship leaders, with Hamish Watson bludgeoning his way through four tackles to keep Wales on the back foot.

It was all set up for a blockbuster finish but Gatland's team showed nerves of steel as they survived a tense final five minutes.

Anscombe nailed a last-gasp penalty as he sealed an 18-11 win which keeps Welsh Grand Slam dreams alive going into their final game at home to Ireland next Saturday.

Scotland captain McInally said: "We're massively disappointed with that. We had a chance to win the game and we weren't quite accurate enough.

"We got a massive lift when Darcy Graham scored but they're an excellent side and they've got a great defence. We just couldn't break it down.

"We have high expectations of ourselves and we hate losing at home. We'll use all these experiences to learn and get better."