SAME OLD STORY FOR SCOTS
Questions to answer with errors pivotal in Dublin loss
ON A glorious spring afternoon, Dublin bathed in a warm glow. By full-time, the sun had disappeared over the stands at the Aviva Stadium, while Scotland reacquainted themselves with the storm clouds which had gathered upon their arrival in Ireland.
The locals celebrated raucously and it was hard to avoid the feeling that these are two teams heading in distinctly opposite directions.
Ireland are making stellar progress under head coach Andy Farrell. Gregor Townsend’s Scotland, meanwhile, have regressed over the past 12 months.
This has been a wretched Six Nations for Townsend and his players. Barring a late flicker against England on the opening day, Scotland have not played well.
Their performances have been a million miles from the level which saw them win away in Paris and at Twickenham in last year’s Championship.
Scotland won three games last year. That has fallen to two this time around. But the numbers only tell a small part of the story of what has unfolded under Townsend.
More instructive was his deployment of Finn Russell yesterday. Benched in favour of Blair Kinghorn, there were 67 minutes on the clock by the time Russell finally made his entrance.
Scotland were 21-5 down by that point. The game had gone, yet Townsend chose to leave Kinghorn on the pitch and play Russell at centre.
It was a ham-fisted solution to what has been a dog’s dinner of a tournament for Scotland. Kinghorn had a poor day, but it wasn’t his fault that Scotland lost.
If any fingers are to be pointed, then star fly-half Russell, captain Stuart Hogg and vice-captain Ali Price have questions to answer.
They were the three senior players — along with Sam Johnson, Darcy Graham and Sione Tuipulotu — who undermined Townsend by going out to a bar in Edinburgh last weekend upon their return from Rome.
Sirius by the Alan Parsons Project played out on the PA system at the Aviva, both pre-match and at halftime. The iconic song of the Chicago Bulls and their Netflix documentary; was this The Last Dance for Townsend and Russell?
Certainly, it is hard to know how their relationship can be repaired and progress from here. This is not the first time Russell has gone against the wishes of his head coach.
Hogg also blew a glorious opportunity to score shortly after half-time. He had three men on the inside as he raced towards the try line, yet chose not to pass and was tackled into touch.
In the end, Scotland’s Six Nations campaign ended with a whimper. The defeat was not quite as heavy as many suspected it might be, but that cannot be used as a barometer of success.
They remain without a victory in Dublin since 2010. Truthfully, they never looked particularly likely to bring that run to an end.
Ireland ran in four tries and secured a bonus-point victory without being at their best. They were far better than the Scots, far more relentless in the moments that mattered.
Scotland made a positive start and looked like they might be capable of causing Ireland problems when Graham made a darting run inside the opening couple of minutes, but it didn’t last.
Ireland soon found their rhythm and it looked like scrum-half Jamison Gibson-Park might well score the opening try just after 10 minutes.
Giving chase to his own kick, Gibson-Park was motoring towards the try line, only for Hogg to scamper back and cover the danger before hoofing the ball clear.
But it was only a matter of time before the men in green made inroads on the scoreboard — and they went over twice in the space of 10 first-half minutes.
Both tries owed to front-row power; the first being scored by hooker Dan Sheehan after he peeled off a line-out maul, whilst loosehead prop Cian Healy thundered over for the second.
Johnny Sexton nailed both conversions to put the home side into a 14-0 lead after half an hour. At that point, Scotland must have feared the worst.
They responded five minutes later, though, when Pierre Schoeman followed his opposite number Healy by crashing over from close range.
It was a well-worked try which stemmed from Scotland showing patience and variety in their attack, recycling the ball and building some phases.
Kinghorn sliced the conversion wide of the posts, though, and looked like he was struggling overall. He threw a couple of loose passes to ground which were quickly snaffled by Irish hands.
Rory Darge was once again proving to be one of Scotland’s better performers. His efforts at the breakdown were mighty. His defensive cover was also excellent.
Ireland led 14-5 at half-time but it had been a scrappy game, illustrated by the fact that all three tries in the opening 40 minutes had been scored by front-rowers.
The game was lacking any real fluency, but Scotland blew a glorious chance to get right back into it within 10 minutes of the restart.
After Kyle Steyn had kicked in behind the Irish defence, the ball broke kindly for Hogg, who gathered it and duly stepped on the gas.
He was hauled down just short of the line by a magnificent recovery tackle from Ireland full-back Hugo Keenan. It was a brilliant
intervention, but it should have been inconsequential.
Hogg had three players — Sam Johnson, Chris Harris and Steyn — waiting for a simple pass on the inside, but chose to go alone.
In that moment, it was hard not to feel like whatever chance Scotland had of victory had evaporated.
For Hogg, there were echoes of Dublin 2020. In what was his first game as captain, he inexplicably dropped the ball when he had the try line at his mercy.
This wasn’t quite in the same league, but it was still a blunder. And it was still another example of Scotland making basic errors.
An inability to take their chances has crippled Scotland in this year’s Six Nations. Ireland don’t suffer from such profligacy.
The top scorers in this year’s Championship got their third try just after the hour mark when flanker Josh van der Flier crashed over after a period of sustained pressure.
Conor Murray added a late fourth to secure the bonus point. For Scotland, the recriminations into a wretched Championship will continue over the coming days.