And though Chris Paterson, James McLaren and Tom Smith all ran in tries, the Scotland coach was far from happy.

Kenny Logan missed four easy kicks worth 11 points and it was left to Duncan Hodge to kick the game-saving two points after Smith had crossed.

Wales' maestro Neil Jenkins dropped three goals as he wracked up 24 points with his boot.

McGeechan said: "It was a point lost. The first half was terrible but it was a super performance in the second.

"On the interception - it happens. We were being positive, there was a three-man overlap.

"But it didn't stop us - it just meant we had to play even harder.

"After the first half I felt we just needed to cut out the mistakes. We were getting behind Wales but we just needed to hold on to the ball."

Scotland captain Andy Nicol revealed it was his decision to ask Hodge to take the last kick instead of the unfortunate Logan.

He said: "I felt comfortable with Kenny up until then but his head went down after his last miss. Obviously Duncan is a quality kicker and I felt he should take it.

"Our second half performance was good but we are still seeking that big game.

"The first half in Paris and the second half here were both great but we gave Wales a start and had a mountain to climb at half-time. It was a high quality performance in the second half though.

"They seemed to be in our half the whole of the first half and when Neil Jenkins is playing you don't want to be doing that."

"The execution of skills was far better in the second half. In the first half balls that were missing their targets were going to hand - that made a difference."