Defending champions Wales recovered from their opening Six Nations defeat to beat 14-man Scotland at Cardiff.
The Scots had to play an hour of the game a man down after Scott Murray was red carded for kicking, by which time Wales had been awarded a penalty try.
Gareth Thomas crossed for Wales before half-time, but Chris Paterson's two penalties kept the Scottish in touch.
Thomas then scored a second after Rob Sidoli's try, but Scotland rallied with Hugo Southwell and Paterson tries.
In the pre-match talk Wales had promised to stand up to the Scottish pack, and it took just six minutes for the Welsh forwards to show they meant business.
Match statistics
But the Wales pack flexed their muscles from the resulting scrum, forcing the Scots to collapse.
"We are obviously delighted to get four tries and we played some good stuff at times"
Fly-half Stephen Jones added the simple conversion, but winger Paterson cut the deficit with a penalty after 18 minutes.
Scotland were building some decent pressure, but then came the moment which completely changed the course of the afternoon - Murray's red card.
The 73-capped lock was given his marching orders for kicking opposite lock Ian Gough in the face after the Welshman had tackled him late.
"Scott (Murray) said it wasn't intentional and that it was harsh that he was sent off"
Wales immediately looked to hit the stunned Scots. Thomas and blood replacement Lee Byrne had tries disallowed for a foot in touch and a forward pass respectively.
But Thomas was not to be denied shortly afterwards when he gathered his chip kick over the Scotland defence to his first try in two years.
The conversion was again straightforward for Jones.
Paterson's second penalty gave Scotland a glimmer of hope at the interval, but 13 minutes into the second half the result was put beyond doubt.
Scrum-half Peel made a typical break from a ruck and found Sidoli perfectly placed on his left shoulder to dive over.
Lock Sidoli had made a superb try-saving tackle two minutes earlier to deny Scotland flanker Allister Hogg.
Peel was again the creator nine minutes later when he sent Thomas away for his second score - extending his Wales record to 36 tries - after Paterson had spilled the ball under Welsh pressure.
Jones made the most of the perfect kicking conditions under the Millennium Stadium roof to land the conversion from the left touchline.
Despite their weary legs, Scotland kept fighting and were rewarded with two tries in the final two minutes.
Southwell scored in the right corner after Sean Lamont had sucked in the Welsh defence, and then Paterson intercepted a speculative long pass from prop Wales Gethin Jenkins to race clear.
The winger converted to give the final scoreline an air of respectability.
Wales: G Thomas (capt); M Jones, Luscombe, Watkins, S Williams; S Jones, Peel; D Jones, R Thomas, Adam R Jones, Gough, Sidoli, Charvis, M Williams, Owen.
Replacements: M Davies for Thomas (77), G Jenkins for A R Jones (69), Adam M Jones for Sidoli (78), Delve for Charvis (67), Phillips for Peel (70), Robinson for Watkins (75), Byrne for Williams (70).
Scotland: Southwell; Paterson, MacDougall, Henderson, Lamont; Parks, Blair; Kerr, Lawson, Douglas, Kellock, Murray, White (capt), Hogg, Taylor.
Replacements: Ford for Lamont (54), Smith for Kerr (54), MacLeod for Hogg (67), Petrie for Kellock (67), Cusiter for Blair (70), Ross for Parks (61), Webster for MacDougall (67).
Referee: Steve Walsh (New Zealand)