WE’RE BACK IN BLUNDERLAND
Townsend’s men make an exciting start then errors and Taylor’s yellow card hand victory to the Irish
SCOTLAND haven’t tasted victory in Dublin for ten years. On days like these, it feels like that agonising wait for a win on Irish soil could go on forever. Ironically, Gregor Townsend’s men were playing some superb stuff in the first half before mistakes crept in and their discipline went straight out the window.
The yellow card handed out to centre Duncan Taylor by referee Matt Carley on the half hour, when he flew out the line to stop an Irish try-scoring opportunity, was the most expensive. While Taylor was off the pitch, Keith Earls scored the first of his two tries that changed the momentum of the game.
That indiscipline was also on show from even the more experienced players such as captain Stuart Hogg, whose knock-on gifted possession back to Ireland in the build-up to Earl’s crucial second try four minutes after the break.
Jamie Ritchie was also culpable of giving away too many penalties, especially at the breakdown where Scotland were poor. Townsend’s men ran up 15 during the game. At international level, even ten is too many. On a brighter note for the Scots — one of the few — was a superb opportunist try from winger Duhan van der Merwe and a decent display from fly-half Jaco van der Walt on his debut.
Ireland gave away ten penalties of their own, which was bad enough, but their forwards were much better and their game management far superior to the Scots, who — yet again — failed to deliver for a full 80 minutes.
It took seven minutes for Scotland to settle into the game, during which time Fraser Brown had the ball ripped from him by Peter O’Mahony, Ritchie conceded a penalty and Hogg knocked on under the high ball.
A second Ritchie error at the breakdown allowed Jonathan Sexton his first penalty kick at goal but he pushed it wide.
There was a massive momentum swing towards Scotland after Hogg set off on a run from deep that had the effect of settling his team. Seeing their captain run with ball in hand gave the rest of the players confidence to try to do the same.
Van der Walt may have missed his first attempt at a penalty when his kick from 45metres out came back off the upright and bounced to safety but that didn’t put him off.
In the 12th minute, the fly-half put over his first points of his international career with another penalty and just seven minutes later, he kicked another to double Scotland’s lead.
The Irish were on the back foot but then hooker Brown was penalised for a no-arms tackle, which allowed Sexton to put Ireland’s first points on the board before Van der Walt restored the Scots’ six-point lead with another penalty.
Van der Walt was running the show ahead of his opposite number Sexton, with a superb kick to touch that had Ireland’s defence turning on their heels.
It was all Scotland at this stage but Taylor’s yellow card saw the momentum switch. Referee Carley, after consulting the TMO, ruled that the centre had deliberately knocked on when Ireland were on the attack and had a four-on-two overlap.
Sexton put over the penalty and Scotland’s purple patch was over as the Irish dominated play from then to the half-time whistle — and for the rest of the game. They laid siege to the Scottish line as the visitors defended deep and, at times, desperately.
They kept them out until two minutes from the break when a piece of magic from Sexton led to the first try of the match. With penalty advantage, he knew he could take a risk and tried a cheeky kick over the top of the Scotland defence and into the try-scoring area.
Robbie Henshaw beat the diminutive Darcy Graham in the air and his touch back was pounced on by Earls before Ali Price could clear the danger.
Scotland were unlucky to go in at the break two points down considering the amount of possession and pressure they had in the middle of the half.
But it was Ireland who started the second period on the front foot and they were helped when a Hogg knock-on gifted them possession 22 metres out. The Irish won the scrum and brought play back into the centre of the pitch. Their forwards then took over before Cian Healy touched down. Sexton was successful with the conversion.
Scoring a converted try four minutes after half-time only increased Ireland’s confidence to the extent they then passed up an easy penalty attempt in favour of kicking to the corner. They won the ball and recycled it across the pitch and, although O’Mahony’s pass to Earls looked forward, the try was still awarded. Sexton kicked the extras.
Scotland were handed a lifeline in 55 minutes when Van der Merwe, who had hardly had a touch in attack up until then, grabbed a solo try.
He pounced on the ball at the breakdown before Irish hooker Rob Herring, then sprinted away to score. Van der Walt kicked the conversion. Referee Carley then stopped play to double check whether Ireland replacement Quinn Roux had gouged Brown’s eye following a complaint from the Scot. After checking replays, he ruled there was no contact.
Brown was clearly still fired up after the incident as he gave away an unnecessary penalty deep in his own half. It proved costly. The Irish won the line-out and brought the ball back into the middle to win another penalty that replacement Ross Byrne, on for Sexton, converted.
With 15 minutes left, it was an uphill task for Scotland to get back into the game. They replaced Ritchie with Blair Cowan in an attempt to breathe new life into a back row that had run out of steam.
The change and a few others in the pack failed to stop the Irish domination up front and they had a touchdown from O’Mahony in the corner ruled out for a foot in touch. It made little difference as play was pulled back for an Irish penalty that Byrne put over.
It was the final score in a game that Scotland once again played well in patches but were let down by their own lack of discipline and high-error count. Until both improve, they will continue to struggle to win away from home against the best in the world.