The defending champions bounced back from last weekend's 47-13 hammering by England at Twickenham to score four tries at the Millennium Stadium.

We went out to try and reproduce the sort of rugby we played against them at Murrayfield last season, said Ruddock.

The (penalty) try set the tone for us. We lost our way a little bit with some disciplinary problems and gave away too many penalties but it was a good team performance.

Looking forward to the next match against Ireland he said: We can still improve but it was important to win before we go to Dublin.

Ruddock felt Wales had established their superiority before the 22nd minute-dismissal of second row Scott Murray, which reduced Scotland to 14 men and effectively ended their hopes.

It was a bit confusing. I didn't see exactly what happened but discipline is important to both teams, he said.

Ruddock preferred to focus on his own side's performance, and added: I definitely feel we played up to the mark and did exactly what we said we were going to do which was take the game to Scotland.

I feel we were well on top. We stole a couple of line-outs and scored some good tries as well as having a couple disallowed.

What you saw was a very determined Scottish team which never backed down. They played with a lot of strength and passion.

Despite excellent performances from the likes of two-try Thomas, scrum-half Dwayne Peel and number eight Michael Owen, Ruddock declined to single out anyone for individual praise.

Overall we talk of ourselves as a team and there were a lot of good performances.

We have made a lot of progress but there is still some way to go, he added.

Scotland coach Frank Hadden defended Murray, saying: Those who know Scott Murray know he is not a dirty player. He was extremely disappointed.

There was a late tackle from Ian Gough well after the ball had gone. Scott was trying to get out of the tackle situation as quickly as he could and flicked out his foot.

He wasn't looking in Ian Gough's direction at the time. Scott was extremely remorseful.

Asked if a yellow card would have been sufficient, he said: You don't get a good enough view and I've only seen it from one angle so I'm only talking about what I've seen.

Hadden praised his 14-man team for the way they stuck to their task.

That was an extremely gutsy effort from our players. There was no shortage of commitment, he said.

Despite the circumstances with the early sending-off we created enough chances to make it extremely close at the finish but Wales were a bit more clinical when the chances came along.

There was never a doubt that our team wouldn't battle on. Even at half-time all we talked about was how we could win the game but it was a big blow when Wales scored again 10 minutes into the second half.