Six Nations: Ireland 43 Scotland 21
A vintage Six Nations had the Triple Crown shoot-out it deserved. And what a ridiculously brilliant shoot-out it was. On Super Saturday, Ireland delivered, and how.
This mirrored the 42-21 scoreline in Twickenham, but was more than a point better because, unlike England, Scotland really did give the best version of themselves. By the end, the Aviva was in a fever.
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In perfect conditions - suited to two attack-minded, running teams - the ball seemed to be permanently in play. Almost to an exhausting, astonishing extent – the ball-in-play time totalled 42.9 minutes, but it seemed even more.
[ Ireland player ratings: Stuart McCloskey stands out as Ireland beat ScotlandOpens in new window ]
Thinking back to the opener in Paris and the progress made since, there was certainly no lack of intent here. Take yet another bow Andy Farrell. The rivalry between the sides stoked things up, but it was very controlled, with no TMO referrals.
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Many of the exchanges took place inside the two 22s as the sides went into Ali-Frazier mode from the first to last round, trading blows. Ireland’s set-piece and breakdown work was immense, as was the attack, where Jamison Gibson-Park – surely one of the greatest players ever to grace this pitch – and the excellent Jack Crowley kept probing, while the injection of pace from Robert Baloucoune and Tommy O’Brien has been transformative.
Caelan Doris led from the front with a monumental display. His 16 carries for 46 metres and 18 tackles barely tells the half of it.
But there were so many others. Josh van der Flier made 23 tackles in 53 minutes before Nick Timoney had a huge impact off the bench. Tom O’Toole had 20 tackles in a terrific 65-minute shift and Dan Sheehan was back to his brilliant best.
Under a mix of blue skies and white clouds, the game exploded to life in such startling fashion that it immediately felt like there would be a basketball-type exchange of scoring. The sides traded three tries in the first 10 minutes, before Ireland had a third of their own in a breathless first quarter. The defences then came more into the game as the two slick attacks began to malfunction in a scoreless spell to the break.
Crowley had already exploited some space in the Scottish midfield when looping around Jamie Osborne before Tadhg Furlong won a penalty at the first scrum which Crowley kicked into the corner.
With Scotland and the crowd alike expecting the catch-and-drive, instead Joe McCarthy fed Gibson-Park and Baloucoune came off his wing to carry into traffic over the gainline. From the quick recycle, Doris pulled the ball back for Crowley to hit Osborne’s well-timed run with a pass to finish untouched under the posts.
Straight from the restart, Scotland ran back Gibson-Park’s clearance to halfway, patiently and confidently softening the Irish defence through the phases before Finn Russell hit George Turner on the left edge. After a big carry by Pierre Schoeman, the halves and Blair Kinghorn gave Darcy Graham a clear run by the corner flag, Russell converting. Game on already.
Back came Ireland. When Graham was offside, Crowley pinged his penalty inside the five. Sheehan hit McCarthy to this time set up the drive, Osborne and Stuart McCloskey joining in before Sheehan cleverly spotted the space to score his 15th Six Nations try, Crowley again converting.
Ireland upped both their aggression at the breakdown and line speed in defence, the excellent McCloskey forcing a turnover when tackling Russell with Garry Ringrose pouncing on the loose ball for the game’s first big defensive win.
McCarthy forced a trademark maul turnover, before Ireland scored with a lovely strike-play off a scrum 30 metres out on the left touchline. Crowley passed long to McCloskey who fired a left-to-right bridge pass to Baloucoune. In space, he accelerated and beat Graham on the outside to finish brilliantly in the corner. He’s a gem.
Cue a ceasefire, of sorts. O’Toole, after one fine carry and offload, atoned for going off his feet with a vital turnover, prompting an outbreak of The Fields of Athenry. Tadhg Beirne also earned a penalty at the breakdown, and suddenly attacks broke down, Russell even losing his bearings. The half ended with knock-ons by Sione Tuipulotu and Jack Conan.
After the break, normal service resumed. On their second multiphase attack, Scotland would not be denied, and a dozen phases after a tap penalty Russell dummied and came through the tackles of Sheehan and Gibson-Park to score, and convert.
But again, back came Ireland. The outstanding Doris and O’Brien put Ireland on the front foot before Darragh Murray, on for the bloodied Beirne, did something he’s never done for Connacht and scored with a fine close-range finish for the bonus point and a 12-point lead. Yet Ireland weren’t remotely safe. Not in this game.
Scotland came again with another punishing multiphase attack deep inside the Irish 22 off a lineout take by Grant Gilchrist, who ultimately transferred deftly for Rory Darge to finish. Russell’s conversion made it 26-21.
Ireland bounced off the ropes, helped by Huw Jones knocking on the restart. Farrell had emptied his bench to immediate effect, Ciarán Frawley running back a Russell kick. With McCloskey and the loudly acclaimed Bundee Aki carrying hard, and Crowley attacking the line, Frawley offloaded for O’Brien to score with a lovely line.
A Crowley penalty made it a three-score lead but an even bigger cheer greeted Timoney and Beirne combining to win a turnover penalty on the line in the 77th minute. When Tuipulotu completed an unhappy game by knocking on, McCloskey skilfully offloaded one-handed, basketball-style for O’Brien to finish.
Crowley even landed the touchline conversion to complete a 13-point haul. Truly, a game for the ages.
SCORING SEQUENCE – 3 MINS: Osborne try, Crowley con 7-0; 7: Graham try, Russell con 7-7; 11: Sheehan try, Crowley con 14-7; 20: Baloucoune try 19-7; Half-time 19-7; 52: Russell try, con 19-14; 57: Murray try, Crowley con 26-14; 61: Darge try, Russell con 26-21; 68: O’Brien try, Crowley con 33-21; 73: Crowley pen 36-21; 80: O’Brien try, Crowley con 43-21.
IRELAND: Jamie Osborne; Rob Baloucoune, Garry Ringrose, Stuart McCloskey, Tommy O’Brien; Jack Crowley, Jamison Gibson-Park; Tom O’Toole, Dan Sheehan, Tadhg Furlong; Joe McCarthy, Tadhg Beirne; Jack Conan, Josh van der Flier, Caelan Doris (capt). Replacements: D Murray for Beirne (51-62 mins, temp), N Timoney for van der Flier (54), R Kelleher for Sheehan, M Milne for O’Toole, F Bealham for Furlong, B Aki for Ringrose, C Frawley for Baloucoune, Murray for McCarthy (all 66), C Casey for Gibson-Park (78).
SCOTLAND: Blair Kinghorn; Darcy Graham, Huw Jones, Sione Tuipulotu (capt), Kyle Steyn; Finn Russell (vice-capt), Ben White; Pierre Schoeman, George Turner, Zander Fagerson; Max Williamson, Grant Gilchrist; Matt Fagerson, Rory Darge (vice-capt), Jack Dempsey. Replacements: E Ashman for Turner (18 mins, HIA), M Bradbury for Dempsey, A Craig for Williamson, G Horne for White, K Rowe for Graham (all 62), D Rae for Fagerson, T Jordan for Schoeman (both 70).
Referee: L Pearce (ENG).
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