Ireland v Scotland: disappointing Six Nations campaign fizzles out for visitors

DAVID BARNES @ The Aviva Stadium

A SIX NATIONS campaign which started with a bang for Scotland, when they beat England at Murrayfield, fizzled out in fairly predictable fashion at the Aviva Stadium, leaving them languishing fourth in the table for the third consecutive season (having finished fifth the year before that).

It was a plucky enough performance but they lacked the power and guile to really worry Ireland, who completed their Triple Crown with this bonus-point victory. Unfortunately for the men from the Emerald Isles, there was no Six Nations title to celebrate because France claimed the crown by coming out on top against England in Paris in the final game of this year’s campaign.

This game came the day after news broke that six senior players – including benched stand-off Finn Russell and captain Stuart Hogg – had been disciplined for going on an illicit drinking session in Edinburgh following their win over Italy last Saturday night. While the details remain sketchy, the episode has inevitably raised questions about whether head coach Gregor Townsend has lost the changing room.  – and while the team fought bravely here, there wasn’t much in this performance to provide real reassurance about the general direction of travel with the 2023 World Cup now just 18 months away.

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It started brightly for Scotland with Darcy Graham, Ali Price and Pierre Schoeman all breaking Ireland’s line, and Blair Kinghorn looking comfortable in the No 10 slot, but inaccuracy in the strike-zone – including a knock-on by George Turner, an overthrown line-out and an early tackle from Kyle Steyn – meant the first 10 minutes remained scoreless.

In the end, Ireland were first to really threaten when Jamison Gibson-Park escaped up the side of a ruck on halfway and kicked past last man Hogg, who did well to get back and clear the danger. The hosts doubled-down and Jonnny Sexton nailed a brilliant 50-22 into the corner which gave Ireland an attacking line-out from which they were held up over the line. Hogg sent the drop-pin long and Ireland came again, finally bursting Scottish resistance when hooker Dan Sheehan burst off the back of a maul and carried Kinghorn and Zander Fagerson over the line with him. Sexton’s conversion made it 7-0 with 18 minutes played.

That gave Ireland the foothold in the game they had been waiting for and they began to assert themselves. Graham was penalised for tackling Hugo Keenan before he had collected a high ball, and then had a hairy moment as he tried to gather a towering kick when he juggled possession and then sliced his clearance. It took some good work over the tackled man by Rory Darge to earn a penalty which allowed Scotland to relieve the pressure.

The Scottish flanker – who has been Scotland’s breakthrough success of this largely disappointing campaign – then did well again a few minutes later when he managed to gather Sexton’s kick on his own line ahead of two predatory green jerseys despite an awkward bounce.

But the pressure continued to build, and the second try came on 27 minutes when Cian Healey muscled over under the shadow of the visiting team’s posts.

Now it was Scotland’s turn to rally and soft hands by Kinghorn off turnover ball gave Graham an opening on the right. The little winger couldn’t escape the cover defence, but he kept the ball alive, and after Hogg played a leading role in taking the game right up to the Irish line, Schoeman picked up from the base of a ruck and torpedoed himself over the line to open the away team’s account. However, Kinghorn pushed the conversion to the right of the posts, leaving it 14-5 to the hosts at the break.

Scotland really should have had try number two after eight minutes of the second half when Hogg hacked on Chris Harris’ diagonal grubber kick then gathered himself – but he opted to go himself rather than feed the three team-mates lining up to score on his inside and ended up being bundled into touch.

There was a spot of controversy when the TMO highlighted a collision earlier in that move which looked from one video angle like Schoeman had thrust his forearm into Irish second-row Iain Henderson’s throat – which would have been a red-card offence – but fortunately for the prop and Scotland, referee Wayne Barnes ruled that it was his carrying arm and that no foul play had occurred.

A reprieve from the match officials, but Scotland’s opponents were clearly not feeling as forgiving. Having ridden their luck, Ireland responded in typical fashion with a powerful period of play which yielded two scrum penalties which once again put the Scots under serious pressure before Josh van der Flier eventually powered over after a dozen phases hammering away at the visiting try-line.

With 14 minutes left, Russell finally sauntered off the bench, but he did not come on in his customary stand-off role but was deployed at outside centre instead.

The game finished with an Irish flourish when replacement full-back Conor Murray spun off the back of a maul and propelled himself over the line for the bonus-point try.

Teams –

Ireland: H Keenan (J Carbery 73); M Hanson, G Ringrose, B Aki (R Henshaw. 56), J Lowe; J Sexton, J Gibson-Park ( C Murray, 66), C Healy (D Kilcoyne 52), D Sheehan (R Herring 62), T Furlong (F Bealham, 67), T Beirne, I Henderson (K Treadwell 62), C Doris, J van der Flier, J Conan (P O’Mahony 52).

Scotland: S Hogg; D Graham, C Harris (F Russell 66), S Johnson ( M Bennett 60), K Steyn; B Kinghorn, A Price (B White 60); P Schoeman (A Dell 73), G Turner (F Brown 51), Z Fagerson (W Nel 54), J Gray, G Gilchrist (S Skinner 51), R Darge, H Watson, M Fagerson (J Bayliss 62).

Referee: Wayne Barnes

Scorers –

Ireland: Tries: Sheehan, Healey, van der Flier, Murray; Cons: Sexton 3.

Scotland: Try: Schoeman.

Scoring sequence (Ireland first): 5-0; 7-0; 12-0; 14-0; 14-5 (h-t) 19-5; 21-5; 26-5.

Yellow cards –

Scotland: White (77mins)

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