Hogg puts boot in as Scots stumble
Crocked full-back hits out in anger at error-strewn defeat
IF Scotland’s afternoon could be summed up in one picture, it would be the boot-sized hole left in an advertising hoarding by Stuart Hogg.
Stood on the sidelines nursing a shoulder i njury, t he full- back watched his team attack through 25 phases, before a sloppy pass and a clumsy knock-on.
Hogg vented his frustrations on the plastic panelling, then marched into the changing rooms in a huff. The Auld Enemy, it proved, were their own enemy.
Off the back of last week’s defeat by England, Ireland took full advantage and returned to Dublin with their Six Nations challenge back on track. They outscored Scotland by three tries to one — two of which were gi f t - wrapped i n Tart a n ribbon.
Scotland at least stuck in the fight for 40 minutes, but their secondhalf was a tragedy of error after error.
Their early efforts soon faded. In a similar vein to England in Dublin, the hosts started quickly and put Ireland under pressure. It left Conor Murray struggling to clear his lines, before Johnny Sexton was penalised for a high tackle and Bundee Aki for hands in the ruck.
Early lead? Tick. Greig Laidlaw kicked his side ahead after seven minutes but things quickly unravelled. Unconvincingly gathering a Jacob Stockdale kick, Tommy Seymour threw a wild pass through the hands of Sean Maitland, before scrum- half Murray pounced to score a poacher’s try.
A few moments later, Hogg began to move sheepishly after he was checked while chasing his own kick. ‘ Do you want the physio?’ asked French referee Romain Poite. ‘Nah, I’m fine,’ replied the star full-back.
At the end of the next play, he was hooked off by the Scottish medics. Before he had even reached the tunnel, Ireland had scored. From a lineout, Peter O’Mahony and Sexton ran a scissors move, then Stockdale was released through a gap to score a fine two-phase strike move.
‘It was a big moment in the game,’ said Scotland coach Greg or Townsend. ‘Stuart’s very sore. His shoulder’s not right and we’ll see what happens. He sandwiched between two players and the collision forced him to fly over and land on his shoulder. Next minute, we conceded a try.’ No wonder Hogg was frustrated. Scottish No 10 F inn Russell offered up the sublime and ridiculous. Few players are capable of producing his moments of magic, but he frustrated the Murrayfield crowd when he took a quick-tap penalty from seven metres out which ended with a knock-on.
Ireland soon lost their own playmaker, Sexton, who failed to return to the field after failing a head injury assessment.
‘Johnny got a little bit of treatment out there,’ said Ireland coach Joe Schmidt, who was irked by a late tackle on his No 10 in the buildup to the second try.
‘He probably knew he was only playing 20 minutes, so he tried to jam it all into one quarter! The pass release for Jacob was perfect. The guy maybe could have got to Jacob if he was not that intent on getting to Johnny. We scored, so sometimes it works to our advantage.’
Sexton’s replacement, Joey Carbery, then threw a telegraphed pass which was intercepted by Russell, whose offload found Sam Johnson to narrow the deficit to 10-12.
Ireland have not surrendered a half-time lead for 32 months and Scotland pushed for a statement score before the break — but a knock on sparked Hogg’s hoarding run-in. Schmidt had Scotland where he wanted them; chasing the game. Ireland stuck to low-risk plays to wear down Scottish spirits.
‘Physically and emotionally we were where we needed to be,’ said Ireland captain Rory Best. ‘If you lose two games in the Six Nations you’re dead and buried.’
Scotland spent 34 per cent of the first half in the Ireland 22 but they were unable to add to Johnson’s lone try. They missed the grunt of WP Nel, Hamish Watson and John Barclay in the pack.
Lousy tackling by Allan Dell and Rob Harley allowed Carbery to power through midfield, before the play-maker threw a fine pass off his left hand to set up a final try for Keith Earls.
Carbery and Laidlaw exchanged further penalties, but everything else slipped through Scottish fingers.