Ireland claimed a 28-8 bonus-point win against Scotland in Dublin on Saturday to put one hand on the Six Nations trophy. SIMON BORCHARDT reports.
The five log points take Ireland 10 clear of second-placed England, who now need a bonus-point win against France in Paris to keep their title hopes alive. England will host Ireland next Saturday, with the latter looking to claim just their third Grand Slam in history and first since 2009.
While the final scoreline may suggest otherwise, Ireland had to work hard for their win against a Scottish team that was full of confidence after beating England two weeks ago. The hosts didn’t turn their early dominance into points, but an intercept try, and five-pointers either side of half-time, put them well ahead.
Scoring a bonus-point try then became their primary focus and it came with 12 minutes to go.
Ireland were patient on attack throughout the game, taking the ball through several phases at a time, while Johnny Sexton’s boot kept Scotland pinned in their half.
Scotland will rue their missed scoring opportunities, and a poor pass from Huw Jones in particular, which cost them seven points when the game was still in the balance.
Ireland signalled their attacking intent early on when they opted to kick a penalty to touch instead of at goal. That gamble didn’t pay off, though, as Scotland stole the resultant lineout. The visitors then flooded the breakdown to earn a penalty on the ground after a 10-phase Irish attack.
When Scotland finally got their hands on the ball, they made it count, getting into Ireland’s 22 and winning a penalty that Greig Laidlaw sent through the posts.
But the Scots gifted their opponents a try in the 22nd minute when, after a promising attack, Pete Horne’s skip pass near halfway was intercepted by Jacob Stockdale, who raced away to score.
Scotland then blew a try of their own. Jones, the hero against England, collected his chip kick into Irish territory, beat Rob Kearney and drew Sexton. But his pass in the tackle was poor and an unmarked Stuart Hogg was left wondering what could have been.
Ireland finished the half strongly, with a darting run from Man of the Match Kearney resulting in Conor Murray being stopped just short of the tryline. As the clock ticked past 40 minutes, Ireland attacked from a 5m scrum and Stockdale scored in the left-hand corner. Sexton slotted the touchline conversion to make it 14-3.
The Irish extended their lead five minutes into the second half when Murray broke away from a good lineout driving maul and powered through the defence to score. Sexton again added the extras.
Scotland botched another scoring opportunity when Hogg’s pass failed to find Blair Kinghorn on the right wing. But the referee was playing advantage for a knock-on, and from the scrum, Scotland sent the ball down the backline and a wrap-around saw Kinghorn dive over in the corner.
However, Ireland never looked like losing the game from there and in the 68th minute, they kicked a penalty for touch. Seán Cronin went over from an unstoppable lineout driving maul to secure the bonus point that put all the pressure on England.
Ireland – Tries: Jacob Stockdale (2), Conor Murray, Seán Cronin. Conversions: Johnny Sexton (4).
Scotland – Try: Blair Kinghorn. Penalty: Greig Laidlaw.
Ireland – 15 Rob Kearney, 14 Keith Earls, 13 Garry Ringrose, 12 Bundee Aki, 11 Jacob Stockdale, 10 Johnny Sexton, 9 Conor Murray, 8 CJ Stander, 7 Dan Leavy, 6 Peter O’Mahony, 5 Devin Toner, 4 James Ryan, 3 Tadhg Furlong, 2 Rory Best (c), 1 Cian Healy.
Subs: 16 Seán Cronin, 17 Jack McGrath, 18 Andrew Porter, 19 Iain Henderson, 20. Jordi Murphy, 21 Kieran Marmion, 22 Joey Carbery, 23 Jordan Larmour.
Scotland – 15 Stuart Hogg, 14 Blair Kinghorn, 13 Huw Jones, 12 Pete Horne, 11 Sean Maitland, 10 Finn Russell, 9 Greig Laidlaw, 8 Ryan Wilson, 7 Hamish Watson, 6 John Barclay (c), 5 Jonny Gray, 4 Grant Gilchrist, 3 Simon Berghan, 2 Stuart McInally, 1 Gordon Reid.
Subs: 16 Fraser Brown, 17 Jamie Bhatti, 18 Willem Nel, 19 Tim Swinson, 20 David Denton, 21 Ali Price, 22 Nick Grigg, 23 Lee Jones.
Photo: Brendan Moran/Getty Images
