STATISTICS are sometimes relied upon too often in seeking a result forecast, but in the case of today's match, a look into past matches proves interesting.

Wales and Scotland have met on 102 occasions. Wales lead the series with 56 wins to Scotland's 44 and there have been only two draws.

Comfort for Scots fans lies in the fact that the men in dark blue have won seven of the last 10 encounters.

Scotland's record win was 35-10, achieved in 1924, while Wales boast bests of 35-12 (1972) and 29-6, the latter as recently as 1994. Ominously, Neil Jenkins requires just four points to become the leading Five Nations scorer against Scotland.

It could, however, be a happy anniversary for Scotland captain Gary Armstrong - he scored a try on his Test debut against Wales at Murrayfield 10 years ago.

qSix young Caithness rugby fanatics will have a perfect view of the action at Murrayfield when they serve as ball-boys.

After the game, they will have tea with the SRU chiefs in the Presidents Suite and be given a memento of their day.

The invites arrived last month at Thurso High and Wick High.

The boys going are Stuart MacIntosh, Ruairidh McBride, and Calum MacDonald, of Thurso, and Andrew Frame, Mark Mackay, and James Sinclair, of Wick.