Six Nations 2024: Ending Cardiff run ‘less of a a daunting task’, says Scotland’s Huw Jones

Huw Jones believes beating Wales in Cardiff for the first time in 22 years is made “less of a daunting task” by Scotland’s recent record of ending similar barren runs.

Jones says landmark wins away to England and France prove the Scots are capable of banishing their Cardiff curse.

“I think it makes it less of a daunting task,” Jones explained.

“It’s not really been a huge talking point for us. We are obviously aware of it, but it’s not a primary motivation to go and break a record.

“We’ve done it with England, we’ve beaten France away, there’s a few things that we’ve done over the last few seasons to change those records. Having done it a couple of times, it makes it less daunting.”

In the 2021 Six Nations, Gregor Townsend’s men ended a 38-year wait for an away win over England at Twickenham and recorded a first win over France in Paris since 1999.

The previous year they ended an 18-year wait for a win on Welsh soil, that victory coming at Llanelli’s Parc-y-Scarlets. The Scots have lost their past 11 matches at the Principality, and Jones knows how much fuel the Wales team takes from their passionate home support.

“We want to silence that crowd,” added the Glasgow centre.

“That’s going to be about how we go about our business in the first 10-20 minutes – not giving away anything cheap, sticking to our game plan and applying pressure. It’s something we’ve spoken about.

“We know the type of rugby they want to play, they’re probably going to kick a lot, they won’t mess around too much in their half. We’ve got to match that in a way and not get caught in our own half playing too much.

“It’s about managing the game, managing the territory, but we don’t want to lose our identity of fast attacking rugby, so it’s trying to find a balance.”