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Ireland hammer Scotland to eclipse Wales and put pressure on England Ireland hammer Scotland and retain their title after a nervous wait
(about 3 hours later)
England need to beat France by 26 points after the holders, Ireland ran in four tries to end the hopes of Wales and leave Scotland rock bottom. Their grand slam ambitions undone by their inability to turn the kind of clinical rugby that unhinged England into tries against Wales, Ireland finally emerged from their shells. It was not until two hours and 40 minutes after the final whistle here that Ireland finally got their hands on the Six Nations trophy, or the replica at least. However, England were only 30 minutes into the game at Twickenham when Joe Schmidt and his captain, Paul O’Connell, appeared for the first leg of their victory press conference.
The holders came into their final game having scored just five – the same as Scotland, hot favourites for the wooden spoon – while knowing that Wales had set a hot pace in Rome. It took 50 minutes to pull alongside Wales and England’s task at Twickenham would have been a lot easier had Stuart Hogg not dropped the ball over the Irish line with five minutes left. Ireland had emerged from the world of the try-shy to retain their Six Nations title with four scores in 80 minutes after taking the previous four games to score five, and Schmidt and O’Connell were taking a rightful bow.
The Scots were also clearly up for it, their captain, Greig Laidlaw, barking orders at his pack. However once again it was the little errors which immediately undermined them, the ball dropped at the back of the first maul to set up the move from which Paul O’Connell was to open the scoring. Having undermined their grand slam ambitions with a blunt performance against Wales following a clinical demolition of England through the boot, Ireland had attacked, ball in hand from the off and were a try to the good in the fourth minute before finally setting England the target of beating France by an unlikely 26 points when Ian Madigan converted Sean O’Brien’s second try nine minutes from time.
Johnny Sexton, Conor Murray and Robbie Henshaw went left and when the ball was worked back across the field it was the Irish captain who powered over. Sexton added the conversion – off the left upright, further suggesting it might be Ireland’s day – and the holders were seven points up in six minutes and 10 after 10 minutes – the Welsh differential halved – when Sexton landed his first penalty of the afternoon. The transformation was remarkable. The holders came into their final game having scored the same number of tries as Scotland, who were hot favourites for the wooden spoon. There was also the matter of the hot pace set by Wales in Rome.
For a side branded try-shy, the Irish had turned a new leaf and only Stuart Hogg getting to a high ball before Rob Kearney stopped a second. It didn’t help that promising Scottish moves tended to end in them coughing up the ball but Laidlaw did at least get them on the board after 18 minutes with a penalty that served as a platform for one of those periods of play that suggest Scotland have a better future than their results do. Finn Russell got half through and Mark Bennett looked promising but when they were caught hanging on in the tackle Ireland, through Sean O’Brien, Robbie Henshaw and Luke Fitzgerald, offered something more dynamic down the left, which led to the second try. After making 50 metres, Ireland then stole the lineout through Devin Toner and O’Brien had all the room in the world and not much by way of a serious challenge between him and the try line. It took 50 minutes to pull alongside that target of a 20-point differential and another 11 before Jonathan Sexton edged them ahead with his fourth penalty having surprised everyone by missing two consecutive kicks. Then came O’Brien’s second try – reaching out for the line in the shadow of the posts and finally a stroke of luck that added to England’s burden while denying Stuart Hogg the try to set alongside a couple of try-saving tackles.
Sexton converted for 17-3 after 25 minutes, which could have been worse had Hogg not performed his second try-saving operation of the afternoon before being at the heart of the first Scottish try. Hogg’s persistence and the bounce of the ball got Tommy Seymour to within a whisker and when the ball was recycled the fly-half Russell had time to make the Laidlaw conversion simple. Just as a fan remonstrated in front of the Scottish coaching box, shouting “You should be ashamed” at Vern Cotter, the full-back burst over the Irish line and for all the world appeared to get the ball down. The referee, Jérôme Garcès, and his English TMO, Graham Hughes, looked once, twice, possibly five times and then decided the ball had slipped from Hogg’s grasp and that England would need a 26-point rather than 21-point victory.
A score of 10-17 after 31 minutes became 10-20 – and the differential back to 10 – after Sexton’s 33rd-minute penalty, and that was how it remained until half-time. However Scotland were threatening to blossom and a clever little chip from Russell momentary put Matt Scott into space. It was an example of the errors that dogged Scotland all game. All season for that matter. Here they were clearly up for it, their captain, Greig Laidlaw, barking orders at his pack from the off, but their effort was immediately undermined when the ball slipped from Scottish hands at the back of the first maul to set up the move from which O’Connell was to open the scoring and set the tone for the day with his eighth Test try.
Sexton pared another three points from the differential with his third penalty and then laid on the third try of the game for Jared Payne, the centre running a preordained line to accept the lay-off five metres out and under the posts. It was 30-10 and 30 minutes to go and Scotland about to lose Geoff Cross for 10 minutes. Sexton, Conor Murray and Robbie Henshaw swept left and when the ball was worked back across the field it was the Irish captain who powered over. Sexton added the conversion – off the left upright, further suggesting that what luck there was might be going Ireland’s way – and the holders were seven points up in six minutes and 10 after 10 minutes – the Welsh differential halved – when Sexton landed his first penalty.
The gap would have been closer had Sexton not missed consecutive kicks, but the fly-half was back on track in the 61st minutes (10-33) and Ireland had passed their Welsh target. O’Brien then reached out for his second try, which the replacement Ian Madigan converted. For a side branded sterile, Ireland had certainly turned a new leaf and only Hogg reaching a high ball before Rob Kearney stopped a second.
This report will be updated once the fate of the title is decided It did not help that promising Scotland moves tended to end in them coughing up the ball, but Laidlaw did at least put them on the board after 18 minutes with a penalty. That served as a platform for one of those periods that suggest Scotland have a better future than their results suggest, especially as six of the starting XV have fewer than 15 caps.
Finn Russell went half through and Mark Bennett looked promising, but when they were caught hanging on in the tackle Ireland, through O’Brien, Henshaw and Luke Fitzgerald offered something more dynamic down the left that led to the second try. After making 50 metres, Ireland then stole the lineout through Devin Toner and O’Brien had all the room in the world and not much by way of a serious challenge between him and the try line.
Sexton converted for 17-3 after 25 minutes, which could have been worse had Hogg not performed his second try-saving act before being at the heart of the Scottish try. The full-back’s persistence and the bounce of the ball got Tommy Seymour to within a whisker and when the ball was recycled the fly-half Russell had time and space to make the Laidlaw conversion simple.
Ten-17 after 31 minutes became 10-20 – and the differential back to 10 – after Sexton’s penalty two minutes later, and that was how it remained until half-time and a second period Scotland will want to regret.
“We were exposed to a very good team,” said Cotter. “Things were brought home with brutal clarity.”
Sexton pared another three points from the differential with his third penalty and then laid on the third try of the game for Jared Payne, the centre running a training ground line to accept the lay-off five metres out and go under the posts. It was 30-10 with 30 minutes to go and Scotland were about to lose Geoff Cross for 10 minutes.
The gap would have been closer had Sexton not missed those consecutive kicks, but the fly-half was back on track in the 61st minute and Ireland had passed their Welsh target with O’Brien about to reach out for his second try that the replacement Ian Madigan converted.