BOSS GREG: I’M ONE TO BLAME

Laidlaw blasts whistler but has to admit Scots blew it

Gregor Townsend last night admitted he’ll carry the can as Scotland’s Six Nations campaign was blown off course by Ireland.

The Dark Blues head coach believes errors and poor execution proved costly despite his pride at going toe-to-toe against the side

Greig Laidlaw laid into referee Romain Poite but even he knew he was picking on the wrong guy.

The Scotland skipper was forced to admit this defeat was a self-inflicted wound.

A story of errors combined with trademark thrilling attacking play made for Six Nations frustration but Laidlaw insists the display of the French match official proved another sore point.

Despite a brilliant Scott Johnson try and expert kicking by Laidlaw, the scrum-half conceded they shot themselves in the foot.

He said: “He doesn’t seem to like us, Romain. He refereed us against South Africa as well and we don’t seem to see eye to eye.

“He picked us up in the middle of the field and he’s given a knock- on right in front of him.

“He gave a knock- on against us when it was clearly not a knock-on and Test matches turn on small points. It was a big call in the match. Clearly from a Scottish point of view we are disappointed with that.

“We’re not going to blame him, we look at ourselves, and we also give credit to Ireland. We were frustrated after the game as we made a few errors in the second half.

“We released the pressure valve on Ireland and couldn’t really build any pressure ourselves.

“We kept turning possession over and then we gave away a set-piece which allowed Ireland to exit their half so it makes it more difficult to score from deep.

“We were really conf ident at half-time as we felt we were really on top of Ireland. “Our attack was causing them problems but we just couldn’t convert in the second half and that’s what’s cost us the game. “That combined with the errors made it a struggle. We needed to make sure we didn’t switch off or give away soft tries against a quality team like Ireland.” Scotland S carried all of the early threat thr and that dominance earned ear a penalty for a Bundee Aki infringement. inf Laidlaw fired his kick kic between the posts to give his side sid a seventh-minute lead. All A of that initiative which had bee been seized was about to be gifted aw away three minutes later as Ireland put pu their first try on the board and it wasw a personal nightmare for Sean Se Maitland. Tommy Seymour claimed the ba ball in his own 22 and passed inside for the Saracens star who fumbled to allow Conor Murray in for an easy score before Johnny Sexton surprisingly failed with the conversion attempt.

From nowhere Ireland were ahead and the Dark Blues only had themselves to blame.

More encouragement arrived for the visitors as Laidlaw’s pass was intercepted by Sexton but this time Seymour’s defensive cover was immaculate as he cleared up the danger.

The bright start was now a distant memory as more bad news came with the sight of Stuart Hogg succumbing to a shoulder problem to be replaced by Blair Kinghorn on 15 minutes.

Within seconds another Irish try arrived. Jacob Stockdale’s burst carried him clear and underneath the posts after a missed Simon Berghan tackle .

This time Murray made no mistake with the extras to edge his side 12-3 ahead.

Sexton was next to have to be replaced af ter I reland’s key playmaker suffered a facial wound to show that all of the negatives weren’t just coming Scotland’s way.

It required something special to get the Dark Blues feeling better about themselves and typically, Finn Russell provided it on the half hour mark.

The Racing 92 star’s intercept from Joey Carberry’s careless throw allowed him a clear run but just as he was held up before the line, the fly-half fed Johnson, who dived over.

Laidlaw’s brilliant conversion squeezed the score to 12-10 to the Irish and the feelgood factor was back in the Murrayfield air.

Surge after surge of Scottish attacking play failed to bring the points they fully deserved before the break but Gregor Townsend’s men were at least very much back in the hunt.

It was Ireland’s turn to apply some pressure as they dominated territory after the restart but Scotland remained resolute until the 56th minute as Carberry did the damage by evading several tackles before finding his supporting runner Keith Earls .

He scored in the corne r with Carberry coolly adding the extras.

The deficit was now nine points as Townsend’s side set about pulling themselves back into the contest but this was a major moment of deflation.

Another Laidlaw penalty on the hour mark cut Ireland’s lead to six points only for Carberry to return the compliment with a 69th-minute three pointer of his own to keep Ireland out of Scotland’s reach.

There was to be no glorious fightback but plenty of positives in a loss where more valuable lessons will be learned against the side Scotland face in their World Cup opener at Japan 2019 later this year.