Ireland overwhelm Scotland to land Triple Crown and hope England can do them Six Nations favour
Jack Crowley of Ireland is tackled by Finn Russell, left, and Sione Tuipulotu of Scotland at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday. Picture: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile
Brilliant Ireland completely outplayed in-form Scotland to secure their fifteenth Triple Crown with a six-try showing at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday.
Scotland arrived at Lansdowne Road full of confidence after the manner in which they blitzed France last weekend, but it was Ireland who were quickest out of the traps here.
After Ireland had won an early penalty at a scrum, they went down the line, and after going through some quick phases, Caelan Doris and Jack Crowley sent full back Jamie Osborne hurtling under the posts for his fourth try in four games in the third minute.
The Scots responded superbly, showing brilliant control to go through the phases themselves and they were rewarded when Blair Kinghorn put Darcy Graham over in the corner in the 8th minute for his first try against Ireland.
The blistering start showed no sign of dissipating as in the 10th minute Dan Sheehan peeled off an attacking maul a few metres from the Scottish tryline to score in the left corner.
Ireland then scored a gorgeous try in the 19th minute off first-phase possession. The Scottish defence completely compressed in the middle of the pitch off a scrum and Stuart McCloskey threw a huge pass to Robert Baloucoune on the right wing and the Ulster wing had the gas and guile to beat Graham to score in the corner.
The pace was unsustainable and despite Ireland being in control and dominating proceedings in the second quarter, there were no further additions to the scoreboard, with Ireland leading 19-7 at half-time.
Gregor Townsend’s side dominated possession after the break with them upping the tempo and the pressure significantly, with them being rewarded with a try in the 52nd minute when Russell blasted through Dan Sheehan and Jamison Gibson-Park to score and get the away side within range.
Ireland’s response was impressive with Gibson-Park pulling the strings and the move ended with Connacht second row Darragh Murray dotting down on the whitewash in the 57th minute, on his Six Nations debut, for Ireland’s bonus point try.
The game had returned to its earlier tit for tat nature as Scotland scored next when quick hands from second row Grant Gilchrist sent openside Rory Darge through a hole on the hour mark to score Scotland’s third try.
Ireland finally landed what looked like the killer blow in the 68th minute when Crowley and Ciaran Frawley displayed excellent handling to release Tommy O’Brien and the Leinster man had the pace to run in his 7th try in nine Tests for Ireland.
The brilliant Crowley then slotted a 73rd-minute penalty from under the posts to make it a three-score game and Scotland’s Triple Crown hopes were officially over with the final minutes being a party at the Aviva Stadium.
Tommy O’Brien put the icing on the cake by running in an 80th-minute try in the left corner after Scottish captain Sione Tuipulotu had spilled a Russell pass.
J Crowley (1 pen, 5 cons), T O’Brien (2 tries), J Osborne, D Sheehan, R Baloucoune, D Murray (1 try each).
F Russell (1 try, 3 cons), D Graham, R Darge (1 try).
J Osborne; R Baloucoune, G Ringrose, S McCloskey, T O'Brien; J Crowley, J Gibson-Park; T O'Toole, D Sheehan, T Furlong; J McCarthy, T Beirne; J Conan, J van der Flier, C Doris (c).
D Murray for T Beirne (50), N Timoney for J Gibson-Park (53), T Beirne for D Murray (61), R Kelleher, M Milne, F Bealham, D Murray, C Frawley, B Aki for T O'Toole, D Sheehan, T Furlong; J McCarthy, R Baloucoune and G Ringrose (65), C Casey for J Gibson-Park (77).
B Kinghorn; D Graham, H Jones, S Tuipulotu, K Steyn; F Russell, B White; P Schoeman, G Turner, Z Fagerson; M Williamson, G Gilchrist; M Fagerson, R Darge, J Dempsey.
E Ashman for G Turner (17), A Craig, M Bradbury and K Rowe for M Williamson, J Dempsey and D Graham (61), G Horne for B White (63), R Sutherland, D Rae and T Jordan for P Schoeman, Z Fagerson and K Rowe (69).
Luke Pearce (RFU)
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