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The Expert View
Gwyn Jones 5 February 2009
The old banana skin of Scotland in Murrayfield is upon us once more. Every other year we go up there thinking we've got this one in the bag and more often than not, we are sent homeward to think again.
Much has been made of this game being a particularly difficult opener for Wales but it's no harder than England at Twickenham and that proved surmountable twelve months ago. In fact all away games in the Six Nations are hard and that's how it should be.
This year it's official, we do have a better team than Scotland and for that matter we have the best team in the Six Nations, on paper at least. So we should go north anticipating the taste of victory at the bottom of the pint of ' heavy' .
Thankfully, there are a couple of men who have experienced and coped with expectation in the past - Gatland and Edwards. They know that being favourites makes things harder and requires even more effort, precision and mental strength.
The Welsh side is impressive. It has dynamic ball-carrying forwards. It has inventive game breakers. It has astute decision makers. It has an unbreakable spirit. More than that, it has confidence, the ingredient that changes narrow defeats into narrow victories. Wales is full of talent and brimming with confidence, a combination that should be enough come five o'clock on Sunday.