One image that will linger is Johnny Sexton’s crazed celebrations after Conor Murray crossed for Ireland’s fourth try with the final play of the game. The bonus point was meaningless, while the result — and a Triple Crown — had been settled 20 minutes previously. Yet Ireland’s skipper reacted like something special had been achieved.
Maybe it’s these opponents that do it to him. Ireland are Scotland are pool partners again at next year’s World Cup, so there was a psychological blow to be landed. There were probably personal grudges connected to selection for the British & Irish Lions. An element of needle permeated a game that was characterised by the number of errors on both sides.
After three mediocre performances from the Scots, it was no surprise that they turned up. They got into Sexton’s eye-line, whacked him whenever they could, and scragged and stripped and poached like Scottish sides are supposed to do. Twin open-sides Hamish Watson and Rory Darge slowed Ireland’s ruck ball and gave Ireland’s carriers no space.
Yet, look at Scotland’s side of the score-sheet and all you see is one try by Pierre Schoeman, the loose-head prop, and a debated try at that.
The part that will haunt the losers is that they should have had another, one that might have changed the course of the contest. Amazingly, given his history of missed opportunities in this stadium, it was Scotland skipper Stuart Hogg who butchered this opportunity. Whereas Hogg’s mistake here two years ago was a case of being too casual in possession, here it was just poor decision making at best, selfishness at worst.
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This was in the 49th minute, when Ireland’s lead was a mere nine points. When Chris Harris’s grubber bounced kindly for Hogg on Ireland’s 22, he was faced with the sort of two-on-one that professional players execute in their sleep. But instead of hitting Sam Johnson to his inside, Hogg backed his pace against Hugo Keenan on the outside. Bad, bad call.
For most of the contest, Ireland looked more likely winners but a scoreline of 14-12 might have caused them to doubt themselves. Already they must have been fuming at the number of opportunities they had left behind.
But ultimately they always had more power and cutting edge close to the Scottish try-line — all four of their tries came from close range.
The Scots had no one to match the brilliant footwork and ability to make metres after contact that Dan Sheehan showed repeatedly. When you combine the carrying power of the forwards and the quick thinking and lightning feet of Jamison Gibson-Park, the result should have been sorted sooner. But not everyone in the Irish side was on Gibson-Park’s wavelength, or at least not often enough.
Under pressure to perform, Scotland began brightly, finding holes in the middle with surprising ease — first Darcy Graham skipped through, then Ali Price. Schoeman spotted a gap at the side of a ruck and suddenly found himself in open prairie.
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They couldn’t cash in on these Irish lapses, though. Just as the Scots were enjoying time in their opponents’ 22, George Turner and Jonny Gray failed to connect at a corner lineout or Turner would spill Price’s pass. Ireland, meanwhile, gave the impression of a side that couldn’t wait to play ball. This was typified by Gibson-Park’s 30-metre pass to Garry Ringrose behind the try-line — an unthinkable play for this team a few years back.
But while Ireland were game, they weren’t connecting the dots, turning the ball over seven times before the break. Either James Lowe’s pass to Tadhg Beirne was unsympathetic, or else the support couldn’t get to Gibson-Park quickly enough after he had zipped through a gap. The scrum-half ended up chipping but not cleverly enough to upset Hogg, who did a great job of minding the shop.
The crucial settler for Ireland was Sexton’s slide-rule 50-22 kick midway through the half. While they didn’t score from that corner lineout and while they continued to get in each other’s way at times, their power told at the next attacking lineout, in the left corner. When Sheehan eventually peeled away he looked a little isolated but he had the muscle to power through attempted tackles by Zander Fagerson and Blair Kinghorn’s attempted tackles.
Sheehan was central to Ireland’s second try, too, exploding from a standing start to knock the Scots on their heels and supplying the momentum that eventually led to Cian Healy’s touchdown.
Schoeman’s try, deriving from some successful Scottish counter-rucking in Ireland’s 22, changed the tenor of the game. And it would have been altered again had Hogg done the simple thing. But he didn’t and Ireland had the result secure when Josh van der Flier capped a fine performance with a try in the 60th minute.
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Star man Dan Sheehan (Ireland).
Scorers: Ireland: Tries Sheehan (17min), Healy (28), Van der Flier (60), Murray (79). Con Sexton. Scotland: Try Schoeman (35).
Ireland H Keenan (J Carberry 73); M Hansen, G Ringrose, B Aki (R Henshaw 55), J Lowe; J Sexton, J Gibson-Park (C Murray 66); C Healy (D Kilcoyne 51), D Sheehan (R Herring 62), T Furlong (F Bealham 67), T Beirne, I Henderson (K Treadwell 62), C Doris, J van der Flier, J Conan (P O’Mahony 51).
Scotland S Hogg; D Graham, C Harris (F Russell 66), S Johnson (M Bennett 60), K Steyn; B Kinghorn, A Price (B White 60, sin-bin 78); P Schoeman (A Dell 73), G Turner (F Brown 51), Z Fagerson (WP Nel 54), J Gray, G Gilchrist (S Skinner 51), R Darge, H Watson, M Fagerson (J Bayliss 62).
Referee W Barnes (Eng).
Attendance 51,700.
