Matthew Rees praises tough Wales defence in Scotland

Wales captain Matthew Rees brings down Scotland's Richie Vernon

Captain Matthew Rees praised Wales for digging deep to end an eight game winless run with a 24-6 Six Nations victory over Scotland at Murrayfield.

Wales came into the game on the back of a home loss to England last week.

"We've been a wounded animal all week after the England game and we knew it wasn't an easy task coming up here to get a result," said hooker Rees.

"The commitment, the endeavour, everything was there for us, especially going down to 13 men at one point."

Wales romped into a 16-0 lead thanks to an early try from Shane Williams and 11 points from the boot of fly-half James Hook, elevated to the 10 shirt in place of Stephen Jones.

Rees rejoices after 'wounded' week

But lock Bradley Davies was sin-binned in the 23rd minute for obstruction and Wales lost Lee Byrne three minutes later after the full-back tackled Max Evans much too high.

Scotland battered away at the Wales line but the red shirts - with the likes of back-rows Dan Lydiate and Sam Warburton to the fore - held firm and the home side had only a Dan Parks penalty to show for their two-man numerical advantage.

"That was huge, that has probably won us the game," Rees added.

"Two sin-binnings is going to effect the team and they were camped on our line for a while but a big part of our game is defence and that's what wins you games.

"Discipline was a bit of an issue, but to come away with a 24-6 win was a great result for us.

"It [confidence] has been there, it's just we haven't put a tidy game together for a while.

606: DEBATE Warburton was everywhere today and Bradley wasn't far behind (except for yellow card) WILMO2010

"But the Scots were hurting as well from last week with the defeat in Paris but we came out early doors, we played a bit of rugby - it got a bit scrappy towards the end there - but we're just glad of the result."

Cardiff Blues flanker Warburton was named man of the match for his efforts and was delighted that they had got their Six Nations campaign back on track after the Millennium Stadium loss last week.

"We are a resilient bunch, especially after the result against England," Warburton said.

"We've been saying all week about starting well. We had to make sure we were strong in attack."

Highlights - Scotland 6-24 Wales