IRELAND TAKE ADVANTAGE OF ERROR-STREWN SHOW BY SCOTS
Scotland were the architects of their own demise in Dublin yesterday as Ireland claimed the NatWest 6 Nations trophy.
And it was a frustrating afternoon for all in Dark Blue as they could have made a match of it had their accuracy in attack not deserted them.
This was no repeat of their usual travel sickness. The scrum held up surprisingly well against a powerful Irish pack, the lineout went well enough and the defence was pretty much solid throughout a brutal, bruising 80 minutes.
And, had the attack matched that, Ireland’s record of not having lost at home since 2013 might have been in jeopardy.
But it wasn’t, with the Scots leaving at least three tries out on the pitch as they butchered a succession of scoring passes.
The fact two of those soared over the head of 6ft 4in wing Blair Kinghorn showed just how off the Scots’ passing was.
But the worst example came just short of the half-hour when, after doing all the hard work by chipping over Keith Earls and shrugging off a tackle, Huw Jones botched what should have been a simple scoring pass to Stuart Hogg.
To compound that, Scottish mistakes handed two tries on a plate to Ireland wing Jacob Stockdale, not a man who needs any help in that department as his eight in seven Tests before yesterday proved.
Greig Laidlaw had actually put them ahead with a penalty won at the breakdown when Scotland undid all their excellent early work as Peter Horne’s floated pass was plucked out of the air by Stockdale to scampered in unopposed.
Ireland scored their second in first-half stoppage time, Stockdale stepping round Kinghorn to collect his brace.
As a result, the sides switched ends with Scotland 14-3 in arrears and, when Conor Murray broke from the base of the maul and was driven over
for the score, the hosts were well in command.
However, the Scots hit back when Kinghorn, on his first start, dotted down in the corner.
Sexton punted a 68th-minute penalty into the corner as Ireland sought the fourth try that would secure the bonus point and possibly secure the championship trophy, and replacement hooker Sean Cronin had only been on the field a couple of minutes as he finished off a powerful maul over the line.