IT’S THE START OF A NEW ERROR
Ritchie blames mistakes for Irish loss SCOTLAND .... 13 IRELAND .... 22
WE’RE just two games into Scotland’s Six Nations campaign and already the talk is of self-inflicted wounds.
A Murrayfield defeat to the side rated second best in the world under any circumstances wouldn’t amount to disgrace.
But it was defensive implosions against Ireland which left a sour taste as once again a tale of what might have been was played out by Gregor Townsend’s side.
The small things adding up to something bigger, a fatal error count and a disappointment which now has to be shaken off ahead of a visit to France.
Dark Blues flanker Jamie Ritchie said: “Individual errors are what they are, it’s people making poor decision and I was guilty of it. You can make mistakes, they happen. It’s when you compound those errors that you find yourself in real difficulty.
“We were compounding mistakes after the break. We couldn’t execute and we were under pressure in the game.
“It’s international rugby and this is the highest pressure you can face. Defensive pressure comes into it. We hold ourselves to higher standards and we’ll look at ourselves over the coming days.
“We need to eradicate the mistakes ahead of the next game. That’s the hardest 80 minutes I have played for Scotland.”
Scotland had drawn first blood through Greig Laidlaw’s early penalty but a start full of attacking encouragement gave way to Sean Maitland and Tommy Seymour’s mix-up which allowed Conor Murray to dive over for a try.
That was followed by Jacob Stockdale’s score as he punctured the heart of the Scottish backline to put the visitors and reigning champions ahead.
There was a brief moment of hope in the shape of Finn Russell superbly engineering a try for Sam Johnson which helped close Ireland’s lead to two points.
Keith Earls’s score just before the hour mark shoved the match out of Scotland’s reach and again Ritchie insists Ireland piled on some points which were handed