Richard Bath Irish end Scots’ home run
For Scotland, this was a case of what could have been. A display of purpose and commitment was undermined by errors and poor decisions at key moments as a match they could — perhaps even should — have won slipped from their grasp.
After the shellshock induced by last week’s unexpected demolition by England in Dublin, no one should underestimate the scale of Ireland’s achievement in becoming the first Six Nations side to win at Murrayfield for over three years, but Scotland were complicit in their own demise.
Ireland’s defence of their Six Nations title is now finally under way with the 22-13 victory, and they have laid down an important marker for the World Cup in Japan, where these two teams have been drawn in the same pool and play each other first up. For Joe Schmidt’s men, the need for a result dwarfed considerations about performance, with the outcome being that at times their play was surprisingly nervy.
For Scotland, who were the better side in the first half, a subdued second-half performance was a deeply anti-climactic way to lose a formidable home record which has been the bedrock of their success under Vern Cotter and Gregor Townsend. A side which has won just two away games in the history of the Six Nations — the last of those 10 years ago — now faces Wales at home and daunting trips to Paris before ending their campaign at Twickenham.
Not that Scotland were outclassed yesterday, despite losing three tries to one, far from it. The pace was rarely less than frenetic and some of the hits verging on being both late and wilfully brutal. Notwithstanding another impressively assured performance from Finn Russell, the sense that this hugely competitive match was one for the piano movers rather than the piano players was underlined by early injuries to key players Stuart Hogg and Johnny Sexton.
Both are talismanic figures for their sides and both are in doubt for Paris and Rome respectively. When Hogg was forced off the field, Scotland were winning and looking fairly comfortable, but the sort of needless mistakes which bedevilled Scotland in Dublin last year were in evidence again when Tommy Seymour threw a wild pass at Sean Maitland from close range, the wing failing to field it and allowing Conor Murray to pick up and go over.
Worse followed five minutes later when Ireland had the ball in midfield, a beautifully deft inside pass from Sexton working Jacob Stockdale through a gap in Scotland’s defensive line, the wing then outpacing Russell and finding replacement fullback Blair Kinghorn, who had just come on for Hogg, hopelessly out of position.
This time Sexton kicked the conversion and with Scotland trailing 12-3 after conceding two tries from deep and having lost their attacking talisman, things were not looking promising for the home side.
However, Scotland utterly dominated the second quarter and should have taken the lead several times. They spurned a couple of kickable penalties but couldn’t work their way over. That failure to seize that opportunity turned out to be terminal, with Keith Earls crossing to give Ireland a nine-point lead.
With Ireland’s set-piece dominant but Scotland’s back row competing ferociously, chances after that were few and far between. Penalties were exchanged but a side of Ireland’s experience are expert at running down the clock, and at no stage did Scotland ever look as if they would conjure up the two scores needed to overhaul Ireland.