Ireland bounce back with victory at Murrayfield
THIS trip to Murrayfield was a banana skin assignment for Ireland after their home defeat by England, but by putting a chokehold on Scotland they posted notice that they have no intention of gift-wrapping their title and handing it to either Eddie Jones or Warren Gatland.
The Scots, boosted by their opening win against Italy, fancied their chances before the game, and that optimism must have grown during a breathless first-half of cut and thrust, which, although it saw them trail 12-10 at the interval, had provided enough evidence that victory was there for the taking.
However, although the Scots got off to a blistering start, and created an overflow of chances with more than 70 per cent of the action taking place in the Irish half of the pitch, they were unable to make the most of their opportunities.
The upshot was that they were eventually outscored three tries to one. Part of this was due to the unyielding green defensive wall in front of them, and part due to a high error count.
Whereas Ireland always seemed to have a clearer map of their objectives, and went about imposing greater control on the game in the second half, the Scots lost their way – and as fatigue set in their mistakes mounted inexorably.
Both teams had to weather the loss of key backs in the first half, with Scottish full back Stuart Hogg forced off with a shoulder injury after 16 minutes to be replaced by their hat-trick hero against Italy, Blair Kinghorn. Irish fly-half Jonny Sexton followed him not long afterwards after an HIA, with Joey Carbery taking over.
Given the frenetic pace and ferocity of the opening exchanges, casualties were almost an inevitability, but it was Ireland who not only had the stronger bench but were also more ruthless in finishing the chances that they carved out.
While Greig Laidlaw is an organisational linchpin and fine goalkicker, one of Scotland’s shortfalls is that they do not move the ball from the breakdown quickly enough when he is at scrum-half.
His rival, Ali Price, clears it faster and offers a threat around the fringes which is much more in tune with the high tempo game that Scotland coach Gregor Townsend favours – but by the time Price came on Ireland had too tight a grip on the proceedings.
Laidlaw put over an early penalty to give Scotland some reward for their early pressure, but with only nine minutes played it was the Irish who made the first serious incision. It came when Sexton whipped the ball wide to Jacob Stockdale, and the big winger put his trials and tribulations against England behind him, with a well judged chip into the Scottish 22.
Tommy Seymour chased back, but, with the burly Chris Farrell breathing down his neck, the Scottish wing’s high and wide pass whistled over the head of the intended receiver, Sean Maitland, and instead bounced into the path of Conor Murray. The Irish scrum-half snapped it up for the opening score, and although Sexton hooked a straightforward conversion, Ireland led 5-3 against the run of play.
One form of Scottish inaccuracy soon gave way to another, because just as Hogg was replaced, Ireland struck again with a clinical move designed to exploit loose ruck defence by the home side.
When Murray passed to Peter O’Mahony from a ruck on halfway, the flanker cut inside before linking with Sexton and, with Stockdale coming off his wing and blasting up the middle, the fly-half slipped him a short inside pass. It worked a treat as Stockdale raced through the yawning gap between Allan Dell and Jamie Ritchie and scored untouched 50 metres later.
This time, with Sexton struggling, Murray added the extras to make it 12-3. To their credit, the Scots came off the ropes and with Kinghorn making a break and Finn Russell jinking and sending through a grubber for Seymour, they came close through centre Sam Johnson before the attack was rendered null and void by an earlier forward pass.
However, Johnson made no mistake when, just before the half-hour, Russell intercepted a Carbery pass intended for Bundee Aki near halfway. Realising that he did not have the legs to hold off Keith Earls, the Scottish No.10 was cunning enough to take the tackle and then popped the ball up into the space on the far side for the supporting Johnson to race over.
With Laidlaw converting, the Scots were just two points adrift, and they moved might and main to regain the lead before the break.
Good sweeping by Stockdale and Earls kept them at bay, but with the whip hand in territory and possession they mounted a 25 phase pick-and-drive assault.
It had the guts but not the guile to break the Irish defence and in the end it was snuffed out when a poor pass from Huw Jones saw Seymour have to check long enough for Stockdale to stop him scoring in the corner.
It did not take long for the Irish to turn the tables in the second half, steadily mounting pressure until Scotland cracked.
Five minutes before the hour mark a foray by Kearney saw Ireland recycle the ball, and the adage that a bounce-pass distracts
defenders rang true when Carbery picked the ball up and burst through an attempted double tackle by Dell and Rob Harley before floating a scoring pass to Earls.
With Carbery converting his own handiwork, Ireland led 19-10, and although Laidlaw landed a pressure penalty to narrow it to 19-13 just after the hour, the more Scotland chased the game the more the errors mounted, for a second half tally of 15.
By contrast, the Irish made sure that once they were ahead they kept the ball close, typified by a 26phase attack which ended with Josh Strauss giving away a penalty after not rolling away after a tackle.
When Carbery kicked it to give Ireland a nine-point cushion with 12 minutes remaining the Scots could find no way back, and the visitors ran down the clock to secure a victory which means that their Championship hopes are still alive.
Afterwards Irish captain Rory Best said his side had dug deep: “That was a really tough game mentally and physically…but by and large we fronted up to the task.”
It was an assessment no one could quarrel with.