This was the night Wales’ national rugby union team came within touching distance of ending their barren Six Nations run — but once again, it proved just out of reach.
It is now 1,470 days since Wales last won a game in the Six Nations Championship, ironically against Scotland, and this felt like their clearest opportunity yet to break the drought.
There was, though, undeniable progress. The performance represented a significant step forward despite falling the wrong side of the finest margins.
At this level, a momentary lapse is punished ruthlessly. Wing Gabriel Hamer-Webb was caught out of position when Finn Russell spotted the space, and the ensuing attack allowed Darcy Graham to cross, while James Botham was also too slow to react.
It was a body blow from which Wales never quite recovered.
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Such moments are unforgiving in elite sport. Remove that lapse and there was a sense Wales possessed enough composure and resolve to see the contest out.
Wales must now regroup over the fallow weekend before a daunting trip to Dublin to face an Ireland side who took England to the cleaners earlier today.
But this was the best performance Wales have put in since narrowly losing to Ireland at the same stage of the Six Nations a year ago.
Prior to today there was appeared hope, but Tandy’s side showed enough to suggest they stand a realistic chance of beating Italy in the final round of the Championship, albeit the Azzurri have improved significantly.
Where previously there had been resignation, here there was belief.
Scotland’s Finn Russell celebrates with teammates after scoring(Image: Six Nations Rugby official photo)
A couple of weeks ago Wales attack coach Matt Sherratt was adamant if Wales could get more of their game onto the field by going past three phases they would be able to hurt sides.
He was proven right and there were signs of better things to come for Wales as they build under Tandy.
From the word go it was blatantly obvious Wales had targeted this game as a realistic chance of ending their nightmare run.
Wales’ intensity rose tenfold to what it had been at Twickenham and against France last Sunday.
Over the past couple of years the one consistent criticism thrown Wales’ way has been a lack of ball carriers and a lack of physicality, which has led to a soft underbelly.
But after a woeful first couple of weeks, those Wales’ problems were transformed and Steve Tandy has to take a huge amount of credit.
At the Principality Stadium, Wales were the aggressors as the home side dominated the contact area.
Wales’ Rhys Carre celebrates with Eddie James and Alex Mann(Image: Six Nations Rugby official photo)
They succeeded in getting over the gain-line with the likes of Aaron Wainwright, Rhys Carré, Dewi Lake and Eddie James getting over the gainline.
Saracens prop Carré had his best game in a Wales shirt, making significant post contact metres while his offload from the point of contact to Alex Mann was pivotal in opening up the Scotland defence in the lead up to Josh Adams’ try.
Earlier in the season the Scarlets‘ South African forwards coach Albert van den Berg compared powerful centre James to the Springboks’ World Cup winning centre André Esterhuizen.
It was evident why in the first 40 minutes of this pulsating Test match, with James carrying the ball into contact with venom as if he wanted to kill someone.
This was a team with a point to prove as was evident when Carré passionately urged the crowd to raise the noise when the half-time whistle got blown.
Tandy will also be pleased by the performance of outside-half Sam Costelow, who was outstanding.
The 25-year-old has been the victim of some severe abuse on social media over the past couple of years but he shoved the words of his critics down their throats with a superb all round performance.
Wales’ Sam Costelow kicks a penalty(Image: Six Nations Rugby official photo)
Costelow’s passing game helped unlock the Scotland defence in the first-half and his kicking out of hand was on point.
But the sight of the Scarlets man limping off with what looked like a painful lower limb injury will concern Tandy, and his absence over the final two rounds of the championship will negatively impact Wales’ chances of avoiding the Wooden Spoon.
Apart from the soft try conceded to Graham, the difference at the end was the impact of Scotland’s bench with the likes of Grant Gilchrist and Josh Bayliss getting on top of Wales physically late on.
Defeat will sting, yet this was not without encouragement. For the first time in some while, there was tangible evidence that a revival may be stirring.