Wales hooker Ryan Elias hailed his side's "never-say-die attitude" in their tense 20-17 victory over Scotland at the Principality Stadium on Saturday.
After suffering a heavy loss to Ireland last weekend, Wales gave their Six Nations title defence lift-off thanks to the kicking expertise of Dan Biggar.
The fly-half kicked 15 points on what was his 100th Test outing, including a drop-goal 11 minutes from time to seal the victory for Wales in Cardiff.
Scotland were a man down at that point after Finn Russell, who himself kicked 12 points, was yellow carded for a deliberate knock-on.
Wales trailed by five points in the first half and were again behind approaching the hour mark, but they rallied to avoid successive losses to begin a campaign for the first time since 2007.
"It's huge," Elias told BBC Sport. "We needed a big reaction from last week, especially for the crowd here today.
"We didn't turn up last week physically or in a lot of aspects of the game. I don't think we fired any shots last week.
"We had a long hard look at ourselves in the week. We were physical, we had that never-say-die attitude. Hopefully we can just keep building on that now."
Russell's yellow card was his fourth in Test rugby, each of those coming in the Six Nations – including one in a defeat to Wales seven years ago.
Biggar took full advantage by kicking for the three points soon after, rather than playing the ball out wide as Wales closed in on the try-line.
After expertly seeing out the win, however, centurion Biggar was left to reflect on a memorable day.
"This is one of my best victories in a Welsh shirt," he said. "It's been a really difficult week. We've had to put up with a lot of flak – and rightly so.
"To come back here and put on a show like that, to grind a result out like that, is one of the best victories in my 100 games.
"We put in a huge shift defensively, our forwards fronted up, and it laid a really strong foundation.
"Off the back of the week we've had, this team has shown if anything it's resilient and can hit back after a poor performance."
Scotland beat England 20-17 in last week's Calcutta Cup clash and started strongly through a Darcy Graham try in Cardiff.
But after failing to push on, they have now lost 10 of their 12 away matches against Wales in the Six Nations, including the last nine in a row at the Principality Stadium.
And Scotland skipper Stuart Hogg was left to reflect on an ill-disciplined display from his side in the Welsh capital.
"We're bitterly disappointed," he told BBC Sport. "The stuff that we're in control of, when we're on the front foot, we're really dangerous. At times, we weren't allowed to do that.
"We're a lot better than what we showed. That’s international rugby – you have to take your chances or you end up on the wrong side of the scoreline.
"[Poor discipline] was absolutely a factor. One penalty or knock-on is fine, but when we compound error upon error that's frustrating, because we know we're better than that.
"Credit to Wales, they were fairly good at times. It's a horrible feeling right now but that is Test match rugby."
Bellamy earns maiden Wales win in 'toughest game of his career'
Craig Bellamy praised his players for overcoming some of the toughest conditions he has witnessed to earn him his first win as Wales head coach against Montenegro in the Nations League.
Kieffer Moore opened the scoring after just 36 seconds at the Stadion Kraj Bistrice, with Wales netting inside a minute for the first time since Robert Earnshaw in 2004.
But the Dragons doubled their advantage with two minutes and 27 seconds on the clock, this time Harry Wilson found the back of the net with a fine finish from distance.
It was the first time Wales had scored twice within the opening three minutes of a game since April 1961 against Northern Ireland to give Bellamy a dream start.
However, the conditions in Montenegro were far from ideal, with the rain-soaked pitch allowing Driton Camaj to pull one back for the hosts in the 73rd minute.
Wales were able to see out the remaining minutes to seal their first win of their Nations League campaign, building on their impressive showing against Turkiye.
"These are the toughest conditions I've been in. Nothing about coming here has been easy," Bellamy said.
"You could have had a lot of excuses about this trip. The change of venue, the travel here, a bus driver who took his time, the conditions. But sometimes you learn from it.
"There is a reason why this group have qualified for major tournaments. It wasn't a football match. The conditions weren't going to allow it."
Wales are now unbeaten in their last eight competitive fixtures (W4 D4), their longest such run since a run of 11 between September 2019 and November 2020.
Bellamy's appointment has seemingly revitalised Welsh football, with his expansive and exciting style of play catching the eyes of those across Europe.
The Dragons return to action next month when they face Iceland and Montenegro once again, something that Bellamy is already counting down the days for.
"Last night I was really excited about the game but also sad as it ends tomorrow," Bellamy said.
"What happens on Tuesday? They're all going to leave me and I don't want them to go.
"You want your first win of course and you want it quick. Longer-term I see us being able to affect games in a positive way."
Clarke believes Scotland 'deserved something' following defeat to Portugal
Scotland boss Steve Clarke has declared that his side "deserved something" from their Nations League clash with Portugal after losing 2-1 thanks to a late Cristiano Ronaldo goal.
Scott McTominay gave Scotland an early lead after seven minutes, but Portugal fought back through goals from Bruno Fernandes and Ronaldo to take all three points in Group A1.
Ronaldo's goal came in the 88th minute and was his 901st career goal.
It leaves Scotland on their longest-ever winless run as they remain without a win in their last eight competitive games in all competitions, but Clarke feels they should not have left Lisbon empty-handed.
"I'm disappointed to lose a game where it looked, for a large period, we would get something from it," he told the BBC.
"I'm really disappointed for my players because I think they deserved to get something from the game.
"If you ignore the results, [there are a lot of positives], but we're professional, so it's disappointing.
"We played well in these two games, but we don't have anything to show for it. I've told the players not to be too hard on themselves. They have to understand the work that we're doing."
Scotland did well to prevent Portugal from getting any further sight at goal, defending a total of 26 shots during the match with seven ending up on target.
The 16 shots the Scots had to defend in the opening 45 minutes were the most they have faced in a first-half since October 2012 when Belgium also let loose 16 efforts.
"With the amount of balls that go into the box, you know one of them can go in the back of the net and that's what happened to us," added Clarke.
"When you bring quality players from the bench like Roberto [Martinez] can do, you always know there's a risk, but I felt we handled it well.
"We'll go away and analyse these games, and hopefully, we can give the lads a few pointers for the games next month, which don't get any easier."
Gamechanger Ronaldo was brought on at half-time by Portugal manager Roberto Martinez, a move that was well thought through and had the desired effect.
"Ronaldo did 17 sprints against Croatia. He is the player who made the most sprints. So we need to protect the players. One more game in 72 hours is impossible to have a physical performance [equal]," Martinez explained.
"The question was whether Ronaldo played the first half and left or came in and finished the game. That was the decision.
"He is an asset to the national team. When he comes in, if the [team] needs goals, Cris gives energy and a feeling to the fans. The stadium is different.
"If Cris leaves, it's the opposite and facilitates what the opponent would like to do when playing away from home in Portugal."
Portugal 2-1 Scotland: Ronaldo's late heroics seal comeback win
Cristiano Ronaldo came off the bench to score the winner as Portugal earned a 2-1 victory, condemning Scotland to another late defeat.
The 39-year-old, who started on the bench in a competitive match for the first time since the 2022 World Cup, added to Bruno Fernandes' strike after Scott McTominay had given Scotland the lead early on.
The home crowd were just as stunned as Portugal's defence when McTominay snuck in behind, thumping Kenny McLean's cross past a stranded Diogo Costa after just seven minutes.
The hosts certainly had their chances to get back into the game though – Angus Gunn made a brilliant save to deny Rafael Leao, who also fired a number of efforts wide of the left post.
Though Scotland tried to continue soaking up the pressure, their defence was eventually breached nine minutes after the break, with Fernandes marking his 30th birthday with a sweeping finish from 20 yards out.
Gunn smothered Joao Felix's low shot in the 78th minute before Ronaldo came within millimetres of a winner as his header hit the inside of the far post.
But Ronaldo would have the final say as he stretched out a leg in the six-yard box to turn Nuno Mendes' cross into the back of the net.
Data Debrief: Ronaldo the hero once again
Steve Clarke could not have asked for more from his team in the first half, as they scored with their only effort, but also resolutely defended as Portugal racked up 16 shots (three on target), creating 1.21 expected goals (xG).
It was a regular creator that got the Selecao back on level terms though, as Fernandes got his 21st goal involvement under Roberto Martinez in all competitions, at least five more than any other Portugal player (11 goals, 10 assists).
And Ronaldo is now up to 901 career goals, with only Aleksandar Mitrovic (14), Erling Haaland (12) and Romelu Lukaku (10) bettering his nine-goal tally in the Nations League.
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