Ryan Grant – Solid enough but went off relatively early with a knee injury. No major mistakes but part of a front three that had their hands full. 5
Ross Ford – lineout again worked well, didn’t do enough in the loose in the first half, slightly better in the second. Always have the feeling that there is a better player than performances suggest, which puts him firmly in the “frustrating” category. 6
Euan Murray – off early with a bad looking nose injury. Solid enough whilst on and the scrum faltered afterwards. 5
Jim Hamilton – adds ballast to the Scotland side, and the pack has been better technically with him on the pitch. Another solid game and a rare line break in the second half, sadly not supported. 6
Jonny Gray – a quieter game today and looked to be well shackled by the Irish. No shame as his opposite number has 101 caps – Paul O’Connell was outstanding. His time will come, but today he had a lot of defending to do, making 17 tackles in total. 6
Adam Ashe – tomorrow’s man, who’s been asked to play today. Arguably carries more than Harley, and his education is being done at the hardest level. Not awful but a long way behind the Irish back row in intensity. 6
Blair Cowan – despite a clean sheet last week, looks off the boil in comparison to his early Scotland performances. Always fully committed but needs to make more of a nuisance of himself in the loose, both offensively and defensively. 6
David Denton – outstanding. Head and shoulders the best Scots-Zimbabwean on the park. Always getting go-forward ball and troubled the Irish. Can be a frustrating player but on this form is worthy of retaining his starting place. 8
Greig Laidlaw – kicked less which was good. Again, slow ball at the breakdown, which was bad. Really wish he would manage the tempo in a game but he’s just not doing it. Better than the Italy game – but that was a low bar to hurdle. 6
Finn Russell – has all the skills but still learning. Needs better game management but looked decent in broken play and was a constant offloading threat even if he didn’t get many away. Two criminally botched restarts as Scotland chased the game were criminal. Close to a lower score but his try keeps it up, and plus points that he kept his composure to ensure an easy kick. 6
Tommy Seymour – quiet first half but did have a hand in sparking the Scotland try before half time. Solid in defence and always looks a threat going forward. Difficult day against a good side, solid but unspectacular. 6
Matt Scott – looked okay at the outset and was joint top ball-carrier for the Scots, but got quieter as game went on. Had to do a lot defensively and never made any real impression on the second half. 6
Mark Bennett – similar to Scott but the other way round, started slowly and came into the game more in the second half. His day will come but today was a tough shift and had little enough ball. 6
Dougie Fife – not good enough. No more than okay going forward and unfortunately a liability in defence, Ireland constantly targeted him as a result. He’s an honest player but not yet international standard. At best he’s emergency cover material. 4
Stuart Hogg – the best of the backs. Always a threat in the loose and Ireland look wary of his threat. Has got better as the tournament went on and unlucky to knock on late in the game, denying him a well deserved try. Despite the return of Scott and the emergence of Bennett, still looks like the one truly electric player in a blue shirt. 7
Replacements:
Al Dickinson – little impact, conceded a scrum penalty. 5
Geoff Cross – yellow card was an ignominious end to his bearded phase. If the penalties go with it that would be a good thing. 4
Brown, Tonks, Harley, Swinson – little impact when an impact was needed in the second half. 5s all round.
Sam Hidalgo-Clyne – increased the pace and made some nice half-breaks and offloads. One for the future. 6
Tim Visser – looked good in the spell he was on for Fife and perhaps deserved a bigger run at it in the second half. 6