Powerful Irish pack crush Scotland out of contest
Swathes of green filled the streets of Yokohama. Shoulder-to-shoulder rang out inside the stadium. Thousands of those typically boisterous Irish fans did not leave disappointed after watching their men clinically crush Scotland to open their World Cup in ruthless fashion last night, setting up a potentially engrossing quarter-final with the Springboks.
Ireland are, officially at least, the world’s No 1 team. While the All Blacks laid down a marker in their opening win over the Springboks, Ireland’s forward pack also sent a statement of intent in this 27-3 victory.
There will be no mystery about how Ireland attack this World Cup.
Nothing Ireland did was particularly surprising or spectacular. But they did it very effectively. From the first exchanges, their pack steamrolled Scotland. CJ Stander and Iain Henderson’s storming charges were but two instances of big men in green running rampant.
This platform allowed Conor Murray to expertly control and kick from the base. Ireland’s rush midfield defence then put Scotland stars Finn Russell and Stuart Hogg under all sorts of pressure to force repeated mistakes from their backline.
Ireland offer little endeavour when they reach the opposition 22, and are not the most entertaining team to watch — with a 24-3 lead, they opted to take a shot at goal from in front.
Close to the line, they are content to bash away with the pick and go, or one off the ruck. They often back their maul to do the job, too.
Men the size and strength of worldclass lock James Ryan and prop Tadhg Furlong are difficult to stop from close range — and this is how the Irish pack crashed over for three first-half tries, four by the finish, to squeeze the life out of Scotland.
Ireland have struggled to hit the heights of 2018, when they rolled the All Blacks in Dublin and were Team of the Year, but their struggles of the past 12 months will be forgotten if they replicate this form to push past the quarter-finals for the first time.
Japan and Samoa still await in this pool, so it’s perhaps too soon to make definitive quarter-final predictions.
If all goes to form now, though, Ireland will meet the Boks, and the All Blacks, on the basis of this bumbling performance, will gladly accept the Scots, who also lost key flanker Hamish Watson to a nasty knee injury, or possibly Japan if the hosts can pull off another major World Cup upset.
After this effort from Scotland, Japan will rightly fancy their chances.