Scots wasted big chances
Following up Scotland’s historic Calcutta Cup victory was never going to be easy for the Dark Blues.
There was a very real sense of optimism though as the Scots crossed the channel to take on an undefeated Ireland side also chasing the title.
Scotland appeared to have hit form at just the right time after backing up a big win over France by blowing away England with a near-perfect 40 minutes of first-half rugby, before digging in and seeing out a historic win.
Gregor Townsend rightly kept faith with the same 15 that brought in back-to-back home wins, aside from exciting Edinburgh prospect Blair Kinghorn stepping in for his first start for the injured Tommy Seymour.
The game started well for the visitors with Ireland guilty of a number of errors, before Greig Laidlaw opened the scoring with a penalty.
Then came a moment of madness that would set Scotland spiralling towards defeat. With players out wide, inside centre Peter Horne tried to replicate Finn Russell’s eye-catching pass against England with a looping effort of his own.
He only managed to provide Jacob Stockdale with the easiest of interceptions. Suddenly Ireland were in front and the pressure duly reversed onto Scotland.
Townsend’s men were in no way in the mood to capitulate as they did in Cardiff when Ali Price gifted Wales the opening score. While Scotland’s fast-paced attacking does leave them more vulnerable, it also at least gives them more of a chance of scoring than in previous years.
And in this game it was not the creating of opportunities that would cost Scotland, it was simply taking them when they came.
In fact, Townsend would probably have not believed the amount of times the much-praised Irish defence would be taken apart. He could also be forgiven for having to double take if it was the same attacking players who were butchering such promising postitions. Huw Jones has been one of Scotland’s biggest and most reliable attacking threats since he burst onto the international scene. But he somehow managed to spoil a two-on-one against Sexton with Stuart Hogg perfectly placed to run in a try.
Ireland had no such trouble, converting almost every chance they
he then made a pig’s ear of a golden chance