Error-prone Irish stay on course

Under-20 Six Nations/Scotland 8 Ireland 31:The scoreline flattered Ireland, not in that they were not comfortably the better team but in that their performance, certainly the first 40 minutes, didn't merit such a margin of victory.

For long spells, Ireland stuttered alarmingly. It was only in the last 20 minutes that they demonstrated their obvious quality.

Crucially though they managed a fourth successive win and now travel to Italy looking for the Grand Slam. They will need to improve.

Coach Eric Elwood summed up the evening: "Relief would be the strongest emotion now. I gave them a bit of a rollicking at half-time but we controlled the game a lot better tactically in the second half. The final try showed the way this team can play. There was some great handling. There was a lot of pressure going into the game, given what was at stake."

The subtle pressure of a successful campaign is that expectations creep ever upward and Ireland certainly seemed inhibited.

One error begat another. They turned over two of their first three lineouts; basic handling was at times rank; and a penalty was reversed for unnecessary shoeing at a ruck eight metres from the Scottish line.

Irish uncertainty generated self-belief in opponents missing up to eight first-choice players and without a win in the tournament. And when Felix Jones dropped a towering garryowen, it required exceptional Irish scramble defence, especially from Darren Cave, to prevent a Scottish try.

The home side led 3-0 at this point through a penalty from their captain and outhalf, Cameron Ferguson: it should have been nine as the two kicks he subsequently missed were easier than his successful attempt.

The general quality of the rugby in the first half was poor, but Ireland drove Scotland off the ball from a scrum and loosehead prop Cian Healy was unlucky to be adjudged to have lost the ball as he grounded it.

Ireland's running lines were lateral and players were taking too much out of the ball. And their dominance at scrum and lineout made their paltry return on the scoreboard even less palatable.

Ian Keatley missed his first and third penalty attempts, but was successful with his second to leave the interval score 3-3. His halfback partner Paul O'Donohue was arguably Ireland's best player in those opening 40 minutes, aggressively taking on the Scottish fringe defence.

In keeping with the error-ridden nature of the game, Ferguson kicked the restart straight into touch, and from the resultant scrum, Keatley mishit his garryowen but fullback Graham Hogg dropped it, knocking the ball over the dead-ball line in the process.

Ireland were awarded first a five-metre scrum and then a penalty try as the Scots infringed when being driven over their line.

Keatley converted as the visitors edged to a 10-3 lead.

Ireland increased their lead on 58 minutes. The hardworking Thomas Anderson won a lineout but it was right-wing Shane Monaghan's ability to spin out of the tackle and his inside pass that allowed Cave to break Hogg's tackle for a try. Keatley converted and Ireland began to relax.

Healy tarnished what had been an excellent performance by getting binned after Ireland had infringed twice more in the next 60 seconds, but Scottish outhalf Ferguson contrived to miss his third penalty. But the Scots got a deserved try through their flanker Richard Vernon, who demonstrated impressive speed when put clear 35 metres out.

The hugely impressive Keith Earls made another line break and hooker Richard Sweeney swept through a hole in midfield and raced over the line. Keatley tagged on the extra points to make it 24-8.

Earls rounded off the try-scoring with a facile effort in the corner, which Niall O'Connor added to from the touchline.

SCORING SEQUENCE: 5 mins: Ferguson pen 3-0; 41: Keatley pen 3-3 (half-time 3-3); 42: pen try, Keatley con 3-10; 58: Cave try, Keatley con 3-17; 67: Vernon try, 8-17; 75: Sweeney try, Keatley con, 8-24; 86: Earls try, O'Connor con, 8-31.

SCOTLAND: G Hogg; C Goudie, R Hutton, R Holroyd, A Grove; C Ferguson (capt), J Hunter; A Dymock, P MacArthur, K Traynor; W Lipp, F McKenzie; R Vernon, D Levison, G McGilchrist. Replacements: D Lambert for McKenzie (72 mins); B Pow for Traynor (74 mins); A Jessop for Hutton, N McTaggart for McGilchrist (both 78 mins).

IRELAND: F Jones (Seapoint); S Monaghan (Dublin University), A Wynne (Buccaneers), D Cave (Belfast Harlequins), K Earls (Thomond); I Keatley (UCD), P O'Donoghue (UCD); C Healy (Clontarf), R Sweeney (St Mary's College), J Hagan (Greystones); A Browne (Galwegians), C McInerney (UCD); T Anderson (Dungannon), K Sheahan (UCD), D Pollack (QUB, capt). Replacements: R Murphy (Lansdowne) for Sheahan (68 mins); Sheahan for Healy (72 mins); N Keogh (UCC) for Browne (73 mins); K Tonetti (Blackrock College) for Monahan, D Drake (Ballymena) for O'Donohue, N O'Connor (Belfast Harlequins) for Keatley (all 78 mins); G Slattery (Young Munster) for Sweeney, E Grace (Shannon) for Sheahan (81 mins). Sinbinned: C Healy (62 mins).

Referee: C Damasco (Italy).