Scotland 0 Ireland 15:IRELAND MADE it two wins from three in the Six Nations with a decisive victory at the Tulloch Caledonian Stadium in Inverness last night to atone for the loss against France two weeks ago.
In wet conditions Ireland dominated nearly all phases of the game, above all the scrum.
“We had our first choice tighthead, Martin Moore, back in the side and that made a big difference,” said coach Mike Ruddock.
He added: “Scotland never stopped coming at us, but in the wet they dropped crucial passes.
“Overall I thought that in the first half especially it was a very professional performance from us. We made our defence count and made good use of our back three.”
It was Scotland who made the first threat with a charge down of Patrick Jackson’s clearance kick, only for a knock-on to deny the Scots an early score.
Ireland immediately righted matters by shoving Scotland backwards at their own scrum put-in to set up a period of sustained attack that forced the Scots into two try-saving tackles in the left corner before the Irish forwards used their weight to create space for skipper Niall Annett to force his way over for an unconverted try. Scotland came close to producing a swift reply with a forward drive to the line, but it was not forceful enough to pierce the Irish defence. Having held out the Scots, Ireland showed good handling skills in a break from defence that gave winger Tiernan O’Halloran a chance to stretch his legs, requiring Scotland’s scramble defence to go into action.
Ireland’s more powerful scrum again showed to the fore as once again the Scots pack was driven back, giving the visitors cheap possession.
Ireland wasted little time in applying pressure with a slicing run from fullback Michael Sherlock and support from flanker Aaron Conneely.
The move was stopped, but after Scotland had three times collapsed the scrum on their line, referee Ian Tempest awarded a penalty try, converted by Jackson for a 12-0 interval lead.
Ireland’s domination of the game was stemmed at the beginning of the second half, but when the Scots won a penalty award centre Harry Leonard was unable to claim the points on offer.
A second miss at goal by Leonard, this time from 46 metres out, represented a further lost opportunity. At the other end, Jackson showed how to convert pressure into points with a superb kick at goal to extend his side’s lead.
The match, which had already lost much of its shape in the second half, became even more amorphous as a slew of replacements were launched on to the field by both coaches.
Scotland tried to open the game but succeeded only in giving away a penalty, only for Jackson to be off target with his kick, the final meaningful opportunity for points in the match.
SCOTLAND U-20: G Bryce; M Doneghan, M Bennett, H Leonard (capt), K Gossman; S Edwards, J Stevenson; R Hislop, D Cherry, C Philips, M Todd, R McAlpine, A Spence, H Watson, J Tyas. Replacements: A Kirkland for Todd (51 mins), M Eadie for Spence (53 mins), G Hunter for Philips (52 mins), S Kennedy for Stevenson (60 mins), C Jackson for Edwards (70 mins), R Ferguson for Cherry (72 mins), S Atkin for Bryce (73 mins).
IRELAND U-20: M Sherlock; T O’Halloran, A Kelly, JJ Hanrahan, A Boyle; P Jackson, B McIlroy; J Tracy, N Annett (capt), M Moore, M Kearney, D Qualter, S Buckley, A Conneely, J Murphy. Replacements: M Dolan for McIlroy (60 mins), I Henderson for Qualfer (69 mins), C O’Shea for Boyle (70 mins), D Doyle for Annett, T Furlong for Moore (both 71 mins), C O’Flaherty for Kearney (78 mins), G Quinn McDonagh for Jackson (79 mins).
Referee: I Tempest (RFU).
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