By Kasey Rees
Wales centre Nick Tompkins believes he and Owen Watkin can be the odd couple who prove a puzzle Scotland are unable to solve at Murrayfield.
Wayne Pivac’s side have headed north of the border following an opening weekend win against Ireland, but also minus a quarter of their 36-man Six Nations squad sidelined by injuries or suspension.
Tompkins and Watkins will be the centre pairing in Edinburgh for round two – a selection combination that would have attracted long odds before the tournament began.
But injuries to Jonathan Davies, Johnny Williams and George North have brought the new pairing together for the first time and despite the unfamiliarity, Tompkins is calm before the storm.
“I have a good relationship with Owen, I have trained alongside him so know what he is about,” says Saracens star Tompkins.
“We are getting those conversations in; I would be more worried if we didn’t have those things.
“I feel comfortable playing with him outside of me or inside, it doesn’t really bother me, and I am pretty happy about that.
“It is tough without the training, we are still preparing and still talking about it and doing what we can, so from a preparation point of view we’re in the exact same place.”
After both Wales and Scotland won their opening matches, Murrayfield should provide a mouth-watering clash with both sides looking to extend their unbeaten runs.
Pivac’s men travel to face a strong Scotland side who beat England 11-6 at Twickenham for their first win at west London in 38 years.
If the rejuvenated Scots deliver the same performance as they did against England, then they could be in the running for the Six Nations title this season after so many years of false dawns.
Tompkins was impressed with Scotland’s performance and is aware of the threat that playmaker Finn Russell could bring to the game.
“Scotland showed a lot of hard graft in their match against England, I think that’s what they dominated in, as they showed a lot of grit which I was impressed with,” he adds.
“Finn [Russell] has a box of tricks so if we switch off for a moment or try to solve the problem on our own then he will expose you.
“So, we can’t target just him and must respect what he brings and try to bring him under pressure.
“We are going to be prepared for those players but you don’t base your game plan on taking them out, we have to stick together and work as a team.”
Tomkins, 25, came on during the victory over Ireland as the casualty rate started to mount. He insists Wales should be pleased with the way they put away the Irish, even though their opponents were down to 14 men for over an hour.
“It’s always a good game with Ireland, I think it was one of those games where it wasn’t perfect, we made mistakes, but we showed fight throughout it. For us to ride that wave with all the injuries that went o was good.
“Like George [North] staying on when he should have gone off, Hallam [Amos] with a head injury, and Johnny going off, you look at that and think it was a gutsy performance from us.
“I am proud of it really, as we were going to pick injuries as the game time hasn’t been there which will have a knock-on effect.
“We have worked hard to put in a performance to get the result, we now need to move on and build on that, ready to go again hard against a very good Scotland side.”
Tompkins is only a year into his Wales career, but he has already got used to the expectation that comes from trying to build on Warren Gatland’s Grand Slam legacy.
Absentees from Wales’ latest Murrayfield mission include North, Josh Adams, Jonathan Davies, Dan Lydiate and Josh Navidi.
“It’s high enough. What a conversion!” 1971. One of the great Scotland v Wales moments.
Gerald Davies’ try was one thing but flanker John Taylor’s conversion to win the match was something else. pic.twitter.com/SW3n12bYGL
— Jamie Phillips (@JNPhillips4) February 11, 2021
Tompkins and Watkin forge the new-look midfield partnership, Liam Williams returns on the wing and Aaron Wainwright is recalled to the back-row as Wales target a 17th victory from their last 20 Tests against Scotland.
They have yet to win away, though, since Pivac succeeded Gatland as head coach, with all four Test victories of his reign so far coming on home soil against Italy (twice), Georgia and Ireland.
“We underperformed in the Nations Cup and we feel like we did in last year’s Six Nations as well,’ admits Tompkins.
“We feel like we owe ourselves, the fans, and a lot of people performances. I’m not going to say results or outcomes – we owe them performances and the rest takes care of itself.
“They’re passionate, and they support us. We wouldn’t have that any other way because we need that. It’s brilliant, but that also brings a lot of hype, a lot of speculation, a lot of click bait-type columns.
“You’ve got to get on with it, and you owe it to those people and yourself to work hard and give it everything you’ve got.
“Otherwise, you shouldn’t be out there. It comes with the territory really.
“Hopefully we can ride the momentum from the Ireland game going into this game against a Scotland side with a lot of motivation. They’re riding really high after the England win so it’s going to be a big one.”
Scotland: 15-Stuart Hogg (capt); 14-Darcy Graham, 13-Chris Harris, 12-James Lang, 11-Duhan van der Merwe; 10-Finn Russell, 9-Ali Price; 1-Rory Sutherland, 2-George Turner, 3-Zander Fagerson; 4-Scott Cummings, 5-Jonny Gray; 6-Blade Thomson, 7-Hamish Watson, 8-Matt Fagerson
Replacements: 16-David Cherry, 17-Oli Kebble, 18-Willem Nel, 19-Richie Gray, 20-Gary Graham, 21-Scott Steele, 22-Jaco van der Walt, 23-Huw Jones
Wales: 15-Leigh Halfpenny; 14-Louis Rees-Zammit, 13-Owen Watkin, 12-Nick Tompkins, 11-Liam Williams; 10-Dan Biggar, 9-Gareth Davies; 1-Wyn Jones, 2-Ken Owens, 3-Tomas Francis; 4-Adam Beard, Alun Wyn Jones (capt); 6-Aaron Wainwright, 7-Justin Tipuric, 8-Taulupe Faletau
Replacements: 16-Elliot Dee, 17-Rhodri Jones, 18-Leon Brown, 19-Will Rowlands, 20-James Botham, 21-Kieran Hardy, 22-Callum Sheedy, 23-Willis Haloholo