A combination of missed touch and dreadful tackling led to tries from Ryan Jones, Rhys Williams, Shane Williams plus two from Kevin Morgan giving Wales a remarkable 38-3 lead by the interval and the game was effectively over. Wales played some fantastic stuff but were given plenty of help from a Scotland defence in tatters.
With a 60-70-point defeat looking a distinct possibility Scotland managed to regain some respectability with Wales taking their foot off the pedal and Scotland's half-time changes offering an attacking threat.
Glasgow's Rory Lamont capped a promising debut with a score after teammate Andy Craig went over Scotland's first try after good work from Sean Lamont and Gordon Ross.
Debutant Rory Lamont could hold his head high. "I was perhaps a bit quiet in the first-half but defensively I feel I did my job OK," he said.
"My try was small consolation because what's more important are the number of missed tackles and the guys not lining up the opposition. The second-half seemed like a completely different game," he added.
His brother Sean was delighted for him, but said: "The first half was utter tripe. First-up tackles - if you miss them it's a killer. The Welsh are very strong upstairs, so if you take them up high they can rumble in and get the offloads. There were a lot of offloads. We have to make sure we knock them back and not just let them run through."