Fitting way to draw a close to this year’s Championship

ENGLAND’S quest to make history came to an abrupt halt in Dublin as a gallant Irish side defeated this year’s 6 Nations Champions in a gripping, if not spectacular match.

Their unbeaten run was halted by Ireland, who deserved to win by more than the 13-9 scoreline suggested, such was their dominance over the 80 minutes.

It was a fitting way to draw a close to this year’s Championship, especially after an extraordinary finish to the Welsh match in Paris which had 20 minutes of time added on before the French prevailed.

Meanwhile, earlier in the day, Scotland had put Italy to the sword, defeating the Azzurri by 29 to nil and giving their emotional coach a fitting send off to his new job in the South West of France.

It may not have exorcised all of the ghosts of a dreadful day at Twickenham a week ago, but the performance was certainly in a different class.

The rugby was not as exciting or exhilarating as it had been against Ireland or Wales in the previous two matches at Murrayfield, but it was workmanlike and professional and there was never any sense that Italy were a real threat to Scotland.

Even reduced to 14 men, when skipper John Barclay was sent to the sin-bin, the Italians contrived to make a mess of any opportunity that they were able to create – it was almost pitiful.

Italy had no cutting edge out wide, nor could they convert their penalties, unlike Scotland. Neither could the Italian forwards dominate for prolonged periods of time to really exert any sustained pressure on the home team. Conversely, when the Scots stopped kicking and began to move the ball in hand, they always looked threatening.

The conditions may have dictated these tactics to a certain extent – handling the ball wasn’t easy to begin with, but some of the kicking from both teams was aimless and mis-directed which did not enthral the sell-out crowd. Thankfully, when the sun broke through in the second half, Scotland were far more ambitious and attempted to play the style of rugby that had served them so well this Championship, and they were rewarded accordingly.

In Huw Jones and Alex Dunbar, Scotland have a centre pairing that is developing nicely.

Jones has good pace and runs excellent lines while Dunbar is so strong in the tackle and off-loads so well, they complement each other very well indeed.

Vern Cotter has done a great job with Scotland in the three years that he has been coach and his legacy was there for all to see.

It is truly bizarre that the SRU decided to let him go, given how Scotland have developed and, despite finishing fourth this year, Scotland are now a force to be reckoned with.