A packed and sunny BT Murrayfield set the perfect scene for running rugby and the end of Scotland’s Six Nations, with Ireland needing a win and a points difference of 21 after Wales ran riot in the second half against Italy.
Ireland had a clear cut chance early on after Russell shot out of the line too quickly and Hogg had to make a try-saving tackle. The spirited defence (led by the blonde mop of Dave Denton) only lasted so long until Paul O’ Connell steamed over, aided a little by a block on Jim Hamilton,
Slow start; so far, so much the same.
Sexton showed Scotland how to play the high ball game, with a perfectly positioned, high up and under right into the sun and down into the in-goal area. Hogg did brilliantly to take it but Sexton was playing the penalty advantage and duly took the three instead to make a fine start for the visitors.
After an injury break where both Euan Murray and Dougie Fife went off with bloody noses – Murray would not return – Scotland had a chance with some possession of their own, featuring a semi-successful attempt at a maul which ended with Visser bundled into touch as the ball went wide, but at least they didn’t look too panicked.
It was concerning that every time Scott or Denton took Scotland into the 22, Ireland managed to turn the ball over in a ruck (perhaps they were only really concentrating after that point), but Garces saw it our way on 17 minutes and Laidlaw got Scotland on the board.
Once Fife’s nose was fixed and the spritely Visser had gone off, Ireland resumed the targeting of that wing channel but only last gasp snaffles by Hogg and Fife himself held Ireland out. The same couldn’t be said seconds later when Fife, popping up in the midfield, missed a tackle that led to Ireland’s second try, again converted. He looked groggy and perhaps the blood injury was not the whole tale.
The period after that was end to end stuff as both sides focused a bit more on entertainment than tackling and even Big Jim Hamilton found himself in a bit of daylight, ball in hand, but was unable to find his supporting men.
Scotland were looking incredibly keen to carry ball though and persistence paid off on the half hour mark, when steady pressure following a great counter-attack from Stuart Hogg saw Hogg (again) and Ashe combine to send Finn Russell over, who was canny enough to dot the ball under the posts for an easy 7 points.
Ireland came straight back with a Sexton penalty from a collapsed scrum to keep the gap at ten points but Scotland didn’t lie down and kept pressing, and more importantly weren’t kicking away all their possession. Matt Scott and Finn Russell were at the heart of it all and were making good ground and cutting nice lines. So many moves were a last pass away from a score, not least the Scotland “knock on” that looked like Conor Murray had ripped the ball backwards, meaning Hogg was well within his rights to touch the try down as he did. Garces sadly didn’t see it that way and Ireland went in at half time looking pretty comfortable.
Half Time: Scotland 10-20 Ireland
As per usual, Scotland came out in the second half looking sleepy which is just what Ireland would have wanted, fluffing the restart and looking wary under another of Sexton’s pinpoint kicks into the sun. Ireland went hunting a try – and the extra 11 points they needed to top the tournament table – early on, but Scotland were perhaps lucky to restrict them to just 3.
Scotland were making little niggling mistakes though, and when the try Ireland wanted came with half an hour to play, it was down to poor first up tackling. Matt Scott moved sideways to tackle someone already covered and left a gap for Payne to run through. A further penalty put Ireland in touching distance of their goal and then Scotland’s old nemesis, a kick off the posts, re-appeared. This time they dealt with it reasonably sensibly.
With 25mins to play, two things happened: Sam Hidalgo-Clyne came on for Laidlaw and the pace went up, and Geoff Cross was sent to the bin for another breakdown offence.
Sexton missed that kick too, much to the surprise of the assembled masses. Perhaps another reprieve was the move to uncontested scrums with Cross off, Scotland having struggled at that set-piece since the early departure of Murray.
Sexton finally slotted one to ease the points difference up to Ireland’s desired 21+ but they showed no signs of slackening off at 10-33 up.
The crowd continued to roar Scotland on as they attacked with 14 men, but Denton knocked on in the tackle from Kearney, desperate to keep the ball alive. The next attack was similarly frantic, but Ireland were able to wait until Scotland tried some sort of chip kick (rather than trusting themselves to change direction), gather possession and put Scotland right back into their own half.
As usual, the opposition were being clinical and right where they wanted to be and Scotland couldn’t impose themselves enough to get closer on the scoreboard. This was illustrated perfectly by Sexton who bounced back from his penalty misses with a series of 2 or 3 touch finders pinning Scotland in their own 22. They retained their lineouts well, but it wasn’t going to get them any points stuck in the corner.
It was a tactically astute second half from Ireland and while there were things to admire in the heart of Scotland’s performance, it became pretty clear that they weren’t at the races in terms of intensity, discipline or gameplan in the last 20 minutes with a makeshift backline of Hidalgo-Clyne, Russell, Tonks, Fife, Visser, Seymour and Hogg in no particular order.
Hogg almost had a try but knocked on in the act of scoring much to the delight of the Ireland fans protecting their precious points difference, and it was agonising for the home fans who are waiting – still waiting – for this team to click.
The last time Ireland came calling it was a scrappy game that Scotland edged, but this was a far more entertaining game despite the result. The crowd never gave up and the players (Hogg in particular) never gave up, but in many areas this was the frustrating return to the drawing board we feared it might be.
SRBlog Man of the Match: Dave Denton carried strongly and tried to will the attack into shape at times. Strong in defence and a welcome return to form just as things are hotting up in the back row. An extremely honourable mention goes to Stuart Hogg, by some measure Scotland’s player of the tournament.