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Wales victory over Scotland 'borne out of respect', says Alun Wyn Jones

Leigh Halfpenny of Wales touches down for the second try against Scotland. Stu Forster/Getty Images

Wales' emphatic victory over Scotland in the opening game of the 2018 Six Nations was inspired by respect of their opposition, according to captain Alun Wyn Jones.

A brace from fullback Leigh Halfpenny accompanied tries from scrum-half Gareth Davies and winger Steff Evans as the hosts secured an impressive 34-7 win at Cardiff's Principality Stadium.

After a 29-13 win over their Welsh rivals at Murrayfield during last year's competition, Scotland -- without a win in the Welsh capital since 2002 -- were favourites for the encounter, especially with Warren Gatland's side blighted by several injuries to key players.

Welsh skipper Wyn Jones admitted that his side's wariness of Gregor Townsend's squad helped them during the match.

"Credit to Scotland. The way they've been playing -- that was a performance borne out of respect for them," he said after the match.

"A lot has been said about injuries on both sides but as two 15s we had to deal with the people on the park.

"Obviously we're very pleased to start like that but there's a long campaign ahead."

With another potentially tricky matchup with France next weekend, Scotland will be looking to regroup in the hope of rediscovering the kind of form they displayed during recent autumn Internationals against Australia and New Zealand.

"We knew Wales were going to be dangerous," Scotland captain John Barclay said. "We missed a lot of tackles up the middle of the pitch, our lineout didn't function all that well, and when we had the ball we gave it away too easily. So it's a pretty good recipe to lose a Test match."

He added: "It's hard to find any positives. I'm sure there will be some positives but Wales were superb today so well done to them -- but we've got a lot of work to do."

The Press Association contributed to this report