Ireland's last visit to Murrayfield ended in a record Six Nations win over their hosts seven months ago, but for Eddie O'Sullivan's charges the only thing broken at the Edinburgh venue was Geordan Murphy's left leg, as his side won 29-10.
Tries from wings Denis Hickie and Anthony Horgan and bustling centre Kevin Maggs cemented the Irish win, on a frustrating final afternoon at the home of Scottish rugby for coaching tandem Ian McGeechan and Jim Telfer -- but the game was ultimately overshadowed by Murphy's 19th-minute injury.
Shifting his weight under a heavy double tackle from Andy Craig and lock Nathan Hines, the Leicester Tiger fell awkwardly to the ground near the Scottish 10-metre line.
In the ensuing minutes, with the Irish medical team ensconced on the halfway line, and a stretcher being readied, you could forgive many of the Irish players for retreating to inside their 22, evidently distancing themselves from the scene of one of their most pivotal players, with hands on head and his World Cup dreams in tatters.
While Murphy was taken to hospital with a suspected broken left leg, Scotland created and penetrated opportunities, but failed to convert their first-half chances. Wing Chris Paterson, entrusted with the kicking duties, left Victor Costello unpunished, following a left-sided penalty in the second minute.
Ronan O'Gara, returning to first team duty for the first time since the June trip to Samoa, also missed his first kick at the posts as the game took the shape of a rust-laden pre-season friendly.
It took 22 minutes for the first score of the game to be landed from the boot of Paterson, his first success at the third attempt, following Murphy's fall and subsequent sidelining.
Prop Reggie Corrigan and mercurial centre Brian O'Driscoll also hit the deck with injury in the first half, neither looking too serious, as the strain was beginning to show on Irish coaching staff in the West stand.
Strong defence from Paul O'Connell and prop Marcus Horan kept a five-phase home side out near the Irish line, nearing the half-hour, before a turnover by substitute Girvan Dempsey on Paterson, resulting in Horan stretching just two metres short of the Scottish tryline.
Ireland had their first points on the board with a 32nd minute O'Gara penalty, and four minutes later they took the lead with Kevin Maggs muscling over from close range.
A Keith Wood line-out was gobbled up by O'Connell, and from the second pick and drive Peter Stringer released the line for Maggs to squeeze through the 10-12 gap and edge over, under the tackles of Gordon Ross and Andrew Mower. O'Gara converted to send his side in at the interval, with a 10-point lead.
Scotland almost notched a try through Allan Jacobsen and Simon Taylor in first-half injury-time, but it was the visitors who took on the initiative after 12 minutes of the second period.
Skipper Wood took an inside pass from O'Gara, and the former Harlequins hooker released try-happy Denis Hickie to sprint past substitute Simon Webster on the outside, and ground the ball before hitting the corner-flag.
That score, brilliantly converted by O'Gara, effectively sealed an Irish win and Munster wing Anthony Horgan, in his third international, scored his first try just on the hour mark.
A midfield break from Brian O'Driscoll paved the way for Horgan to steam over on the right-wing, following a massive punt forward from the influential O'Gara.
As both sets of players visibly tired from a game of running patterns, a Hickie cutback saw O'Driscoll grounded, but the Leinster centre still had the will and vision to pop a pass into the welcoming arms of back row David Wallace, sin-binned at the end of the first half, to glide over for a welcome fourth score in the 70th minute and confirmation of his return to form.
Shaven-headed Simon Webster, unfortunate to concede two tries as last man to Hickie and Horgan on his debut, crossed for a 79th minute consolation, to send Scotland down under on the back of a sole try in the past fortnight, against the Murphy-less Irish, with 17.
For Eddie O'Sullivan, his second victory at Murrayfield was unfortunately a long-faced let-down, rather than a warm-up for the pending festivities in Australia.
Man of the match: Ireland fly-half Ronan O'Gara controlled matters in the second half tactically, and barked the back line into shape following a slow start. Ireland, as a whole, came into their own in the second period, with Keith Wood prominent in the loose, following the loss of two of his line-outs in the first forty minutes.
Moment of the match: Nothing could match the sight of Geordan Murphy's ankle snapping short of the Scottish 10-metre line after barely 20 minutes at Murrayfield. Grown men winced in full view of television replays, as many questioned the validity of playing a hard-edged, full-blown Test match five weeks before the biggest rugby event in sporting history gets under way.
Villain of the match: Unintentionally Nathan Hines' 6ft plus frame has robbed Ireland the rugby world of the running delights and World Cup potential of Geordan Murphy. The "Tigerish" fullback looked far from "Wizard of Oz" material with a paperweight left ankle in view. Scottish lock Hines was eventually sin-binned after half-an-hour for persistent ruck infringing.
The Teams:
Ireland: 1 Reggie Corrigan, 2 Keith Wood (c), 3 Marcus Horan, 4 Malcolm O'Kelly, 5 Paul O'Connell, 6 Eric Miller, 7 David Wallace, 8 Victor Costello, 9 Peter Stringer, 10 Ronan O'Gara, 11 Denis Hickie, 12 Brian O'Driscoll, 13 Kevin Maggs, 14 Anthony Horgan, 15 Geordan Murphy
Reserves: Shane Byrne, Kieron Dawson, Girvan Dempsey, Simon Easterby, Guy Easterby, David Humphreys, Simon Best
Scotland: 1 Allan Jacobsen, 2 Gordon Bulloch (c), 3 Gordon McIlwham, 4 Nathan Hines, 5 Stuart Grimes, 6 Andrew Mower, 7 Ross Beattie, 8 Simon Taylor, 9 Michael Blair, 10 Gordon Ross, 11 Kenny Logan, 12 Andrew Craig, 13 Andrew Henderson, 14 Chris Paterson, 15 Glenn Metcalfe
Reserves: Iain Fullarton, Jon Petrie, Simon Webster, James McLaren, Matthew Proudfoot, Robbie Russell
Unused: Graeme Beveridge
Attendance: 35264
Referee: Whitehouse n.
Points Scorers
Ireland
Tries: Horgan A. 1, Maggs K.M. 1, Hickie D.A. 1, Wallace D.P. 1
Conv: O'Gara R.J.R. 3
Pen K.: O'Gara R.J.R. 1
Scotland
Tries: Webster S. 1
Conv: Paterson C.D. 1
Pen K.: Paterson C.D. 1
No comments:
Post a Comment