Ireland secured their first Triple Crown since 1985 with a convincing 37-16 win over Scotland in their RBS Six Nations match at Lansdowne Road, although the Irish dropped short of the 50 points that would have kept alive slim hopes of a Six Nations triumph.
Scotland, meanwhile, had to make do with the Wooden Spoon, but the score was not a fair reflection of the match, with the visitors putting in a fiery display -- no doubt fuelled by some inflammatory comments made during the build-up to the match.
Ireland oozed confidence from the very first shrill of the whistle and captain Brian O'Driscoll and company were full of running, only to be thwarted early on by a brave and passionate Scotland defence.
The Irish backline was slick and well-drilled, but they failed to finish off some promising move and all thoughts of the expected runaway victory took a back-seat for the first 30 minutes of the game.
Scotland, meanwhile, hit Ireland hard from the outset and captain Chris Paterson put his team in the board early on with a sweetly-struck penalty goal.
Ireland immediately spread the ball wide, looking to stretch the Scotland defence to breaking point, and they immediately had the Scots under pressure with some precision passing and well-angled runs.
They pulled the lead back with a Ronan O'Gara penalty, but it took them 18 minutes before they crossed the Scotland line.
O'Driscoll rallied his troops out wide and fired a long, flat pass out to midfield partner Gordon D'Arcy, who cut through the gap and steamed over for the try. O'Gara, who seemingly left his kicking boots in his kit bag, missed the relatively simple conversion.
The Scots rallied on, however, and began to spread the ball wide, playing Ireland at their own game, and in patches looked promising, but some resolute Ireland defence made sure it never amounted to five points.
Paterson then closed the gap to just two points with a penalty, but O'Gara soon re-established the lead with one of his own, before Scotland fly-half Dan Parks pulled it back again with a drop-goal.
Ireland were stung into action and they gave the Lansdowne Road faithful something to cheer about on the stroke of half-time when they stretched the ball wide to put winger Geordan Murphy over for a try in the corner.
O'Gara again failed to find the middle as Ireland went into the break 16-9 up.
Scotland's second half got off to the worst possible start when their star No.8 Simon Taylor was stretchered off with a knee injury, but they quickly put it behind them and hit back -- also silencing the loud Irish fans in the process.
The visitors threw themselves into the game and moved inside the Ireland 22. They stayed there for the next 10 minutes, battering the Irish defence, until flanker Allister Hogg -- a late replacement for the injured Cameron Mather in the starting line-up -- dived over for the try.
Paterson brought the scores level with the conversion.
Ireland hit back almost immediately as they stormed back into the Scotland half and then poor discipline from the Scots gifted the hosts with a line-out in the corner -- courtesy of an O'Gara kick.
They kept it tight and charged at the Scotland line, the defenders battled bravely to keep them at bay, but flanker David Wallace broke off the ruck and trotted over for the try.
O'Gara slotted the conversion to give the hosts some breathing space.
Scotland continued to battle away and they came close soon after, but Ireland closed up in defence and pushed them backwards.
The hosts took control and barged their way forward, knocking the Scottish defenders backwards for livewire scrum-half Peter Stringer to dart over for just his third international try.
O'Gara, who had found his radar during the break, found the middle of the posts to extend the lead to 14 points.
The two teams continued to slug it out, but a late try to D'Arcy and the conversion from O'Gara ended Scottish hopes and sent the Triple Crown into the waiting arms of the Irish.
Scotland never gave up, but as both coaches sent on the substitutions the game soon lost its edge, which was unfortunate because it had delivered so much before the seemingly obligatory wave of replacements was made.
Man of the match: Gordon D'Arcy has proved to be the find of the international season to date and he has consistently overshadowed his more illustrious partner in the midfield -- Brian O'Driscoll -- and he is continuing to grow with each performance.
Moment of the match: Both teams played positive rugby and there were some fantastic tries, but nothing could beat the roar that erupted from the stands when the final whistle was blown -- signalling Ireland's Triple Crown.
Villain of the match: The game was played mostly in good spirits, but Scotland winger Simon Webber's stamp on O'Driscoll's head was silly and totally uncalled for, but then the constant booing from the crowd every time the bald winger touched the ball was hardly edifying either.
The Teams:
Ireland: 1 John Hayes, 2 Shane Byrne, 3 Reggie Corrigan, 4 Malcolm O'Kelly, 5 Paul O'Connell, 6 Simon Easterby, 7 David Wallace, 8 Anthony Foley, 9 Peter Stringer, 10 Ronan O'Gara, 11 Shane Horgan, 12 Gordon D'Arcy, 13 Brian O'Driscoll (c), 14 Geordan Murphy, 15 Girvan Dempsey
Reserves: Victor Costello, Guy Easterby, David Humphreys, Marcus Horan, Kevin Maggs, Donncha O'Callaghan, Frankie Sheahan
Scotland: 1 Bruce Douglas, 2 Gordon Bulloch, 3 Allan Jacobsen, 4 Stuart Grimes, 5 Scott Murray, 6 Allister Hogg, 7 Jason White, 8 Simon Taylor, 9 Chris Cusiter, 10 Daniel Parks, 11 Simon Webster, 12 Andrew Henderson, 13 Tom Philip, 14 Simon Danielli, 15 Chris Paterson (c)
Reserves: Michael Blair, Nathan Hines, Gavin Kerr, Brendan Laney, Jon Petrie, Derrick Lee, Robbie Russell
Attendance: 42750
Referee: Williams n.
Points Scorers
Ireland
Tries: D'Arcy G.M. 2, Murphy G.E.A. 1, Stringer P.A. 1, Wallace D.P. 1
Conv: O'Gara R.J.R. 3
Pen K.: O'Gara R.J.R. 2
Scotland
Tries: Hogg A. 1
Conv: Paterson C.D. 1
Pen K.: Paterson C.D. 2
Drop G.: Parks D.A. 1
No comments:
Post a Comment