Following a disappointing defeat at the hands of England last weekend Wales are 2/9 with Blue Square to bounce back against Scotland

Despite that loss and the poor lineout display where they lost five out of seven on their own throw there were some encouraging signs for Wales.  Their defence looked tighter than in their previous game against Australia, they seemed to outscrummage England even with two British Lions missing from the front row and James Hook’s switch to centre gave Wales an extra attacking dimension that was missing in the autumn.

Fellow centre Jamie Roberts has yet to hit the heights he reached in South Africa in the summer but will hope to match fellow giant centre Mathieu Bastereaud in scoring the first try of the match and is 16/1 with Coral to do so.

Scotland can be backed at 9/2 with Sporting Bet to win in Cardiff.  Although they rarely threatened the French try line last week, centre Sean Lamont, who plies his trade in Wales with the Scarlets, made a couple of breaks to indicate that he can be a danger.  Lamont is 25/1 (Sporting Bet) to score the first try.

Scotland’s selection of Dan Parks at outside half in place of the ousted Phil Godman points towards a territory based approach from Andy Robinson’s side where they can target the Welsh lineout, especially when you take into account the fact that Robinson has asked for the Millennium Stadium roof to remain open despite the threat of rain in the days leading up to the match.

While Scotland may prove difficult to break down for long periods, Wales showed enough attacking quality against England to suggest that they may be too good for a Scotland side who have only scored two tries in four games this season, both against Fiji in November. Skybet go 5/1 for a home win by 6-10 points.

Full back Chris Paterson will become the first Scot to win 100 caps when he takes to the field on Saturday.  Paterson has not missed a kick in the 6 Nations since 2007 and Ladbrokes make him evens not to miss again against Wales.