Match action - starts
IRELAND fans have waited patiently on their settees at home for a really convincing performance this Autumn and their team made a sluggish start again yesterday but in a game of big momentum swings, they suddenly clicked ten minutes before half-time to put Scotland away.
It was the Irish pack who roused themselves and kick-started a much better Ireland showing and although at present they might not be able to dominate big beasts up front like Ireland of old, they are still an extremely capable eight and certainly too good for Scotland on the day.
Off the back of that Ireland looked more dangerous behind the scrum than of late and two tries for wing Keith Earls saw him move onto 32 in Test rugby, which now puts him second on the all-time Ireland list behind Brian O’Driscoll’s 46.
As for Scotland, they started like a train, full of energy and good intent, but just couldn’t convert that pressure into significant points and then an old fault line developed, their discipline at ruck, maul and scrummage.
They conceded 14 penalties at the Aviva yesterday – some of them none too clever at the breakdown – and 14 is their average for the Autumn Nations Cup which is way too high for a side intent on beating the very best.
It was part of their undoing yesterday and coach Gregor Townsend will want to address that issue before the Six Nations which will be on us before we know it.
As for the game generally, this was much better fare with a dire Dublin weather forecast proving a false alarm and very decent conditions for both sides to play in. It wasn’t a classic but it was a thoroughly decent, feisty, game of rugby
The first half might have included only the one try but it was brim-full of attacking ideas with both sides, perhaps having taken heed of a barrage of criticism from some of the game’s great and good, looking to put their best foot forward.
Stuart Hogg, for one, looked a different player from the one who seemed content to just kick against France last time out and produced any number of little cameo moments of skill and pace as Scotland largely dominated the first 30 minutes without ever quite cashing in like they would have wished.
Duhan van der Merwe was another Scot who had clearly brought his A game, while for Ireland Earls, an injury doubt for most of the week, looks like the freerunning youngster of a decade ago and Robbie Henshaw was a muscular and threatening presence in midfield.
Initially Johnny Sexton and Scotland debutant Jaco van der Walt swapped missed penalties with the latter smacking the ball very high into the post from 45m out.
The South African, who qualified last month and has just finished a quarantine period after getting married, made amends moments later with a shorter effort which he smashed as if attempting a kick from 70 yards. If van der Walt becomes a fixture in Test rugby the authorities might have to install high posts.
The Edinburgh fly-half, a former South African schools representative, drilled home a second penalty moments later when Scotland forced a scrummage penalty with Andrew Porter being sent in to orbit but Ireland pegged them back a little with a successful shot at goal from Sexton after a noarms tackle from Fraser Brown.
Scotland were still in the ascendency, though, and Van der Walt completed a first half-hat-trick after Iain Henderson was pinged at the break and at 9-3 down and pressing for a try Scotland were beginning to take control.
Or so it seemed because it was at this point, exactly on the half hour, that Ireland suddenly shook off their lethargy and began to engage top gear.
They were attacking dangerously when Duncan Taylor, another who had been going well for Scotland, was adjudged to have slapped the ball down in midfield and received ten minutes in the bin for his trouble.
Sexton slotted the penalty and then, on the stroke of half-time, the Irish skipper produced a clever play to create Earls’ opening try.
Ireland were already playing an advantage but seemingly going nowhere left to right when he hooked a kick over his left shoulder into the opposite corner.
Henshaw had read the play and challenged high for the ball which he managed to knock back for the Munster wing to pounce. Sexton couldn’t convert but Ireland were more than happy to go back down the tunnel 11-9 up at the break.
The momentum had switched and Ireland continued where they left off after the break, battering the Scottish line before Cian Healy eventually forced his way over for a converted try.
Scotland looked stunned by the sudden reversal in fortunes and struggled to stem the flow with the next try coming moments later when Earls sprinted in again although you would have to say Peter O’Mahony’s final pass unquestionably looked forward.
Officialdom, though, turned a Nelsonian eye on this occasion and Ireland were nearly home and hosed.
Except not quite. Scotland did finally rouse themselves again and Van der Merwe struck for a cracking try, picking up from a disintegrating ruck some 40 yards out, dismissing a couple of trailing forwards and then sprinting clean outside fellow speedster Jacob Stockdale for probably the most eye-popping moment of the day.
If I was a betting man I would have a little flutter on Van der Merwe as a starter in the first Lions Test against his native South Africa in July.
Scotland attacked with some vigour moments later but were turned over at a vital maul which caused hooker Fraser Brown some consternation.
He claimed an eye gouge and although there was no evidence whatsoever of that, big Quinn Roux did reach through the maul and grab the jowl of his cheek pretty forcibly.
It was a penalty if nothing else but, instead, Ireland were awarded the original penalty.
In truth it was the last moment that Scotland contested the game in a meaningful way.
Ross Byrne came on for Johnny Sexton to add two late penalties as Ireland laid siege with Scotland defending desperately to prevent a cruel scoreline.
O’Mahony did dive in for a spectacular-looking try with even the hint of a splash down but unfortunately for the Munsterman’s right foot had fractionally, but clearly, grazed the touchline.
He protested a little but perhaps he had used up his luck for the day with his forward pass to Earls that went unnoticed.