Ronan O'Gara's boot came to Ireland's rescue on Saturday, as Ireland survived a scare to retain their Triple Crown trophy with a 19-18 win over Scotland at Murrayfield.
O'Gara scored all of his team's points, including an opportunist late first-half try, but Chris Paterson's boot had had the Scots 18-13 ahead with just 15 minutes remaining before Ireland's pack responded to squeeze out the crucial penalties.
Well, well, well, the form book was nearly thrown out of the window -- oh, so nearly. In some ways the one-point defeat was a kind of victory for the brave Scots as they stood up to the Irish who were starting to get a world-beaters tag.
It was not a great match at Murrayfield but a gripping one as the scores kept the teams so close. In the end it was yet again a gift try that cost Scotland dearly. There had been three against Italy but only one this time, one but enough to give Ireland victory.
There were only two points' scorers in the match -- Ronan O'Gara for Ireland and Chris Paterson for Scotland, and it was O'Gara who got the try.
The scores were level at 3-all when Scotland won a line-out going left and hear the half-way line. Dan Parks looked to hoist a high kick to his left but O'Gara was quickly on him for a text-book, hands-forward-to-the-ball charge down. He collected the bounce in midfield and ran. Challenged, he gave to Gordon D'Arcy on his left. He played back to Simon Easterby who gave to O'Gara on his left and the fly-half was over under the posts. 10-3 to Ireland.
Ireland may have been up 10-3 but there was the uncomfortable feeling that the predictable was not going to happen.
Ireland started off brimming with confidence, spreading the ball wide to left and right, and their pressure was rewarded when Scotland conceded their third penalty in quick succession -- Kelly Brown this time, and O'Gara scored.
It was all Ireland at this stage but that confidence soon proved brittle. On their first raid into Irish territory, Brian O'Driscoll was found off-side and penalised. Paterson kicked the goal to make it 3-all, and from then on Scotland were energised -- no longer apologising but standing up fiercely to the men who had come to fetch the Triple Crown.
Sean Lamont had much to do with it when he got an Irish kick at his 22 he burst into counter-attack and raced down before giving to Paterson who looked about to score till on the Irish 22 Denis Hickie cut him down from behind. Paterson was penalised for holding on, and a scrap ensued.
There was another scrap, a more serious one, when Paterson swung an arm at O'Gara's head and O'Driscoll objected. In the end O'Driscoll was the one called out and penalised. "Only me?" he asked calmly.
After O'Gara's try, Paul O'Connell knocked on the kick off and Gavin Kerr grabbed and the Scots were attacking down the left. They had a scrum five metres from the Irish line on the home side's left. They went right. Parks sent a long pass to Hugo Southwell who went for the line leaving Paterson unmarked on his outside. Southwell was injured and a golden opportunity went astray.
In the last four minutes Paterson kicked a penalty, O'Gara kicked a penalty and Paterson kicked a penalty to make the score 13-9 at the break.
Ireland started the second half in a different vein from the first. Instead of going wide they stayed as close as possible with pick-and-go. When Nathan Hines was penalised and, not for the first time, sent to the sin bin, Ireland had a five-metre line-pout and a maul. They got to the line but lost the ball to a "use it or lose it" maul.
O'Driscoll had a great break past Rob Dewey, as D'Arcy had done in the first half, but the move was shipwrecked on a poor pass by Shane Horgan.
Hickie had a strong run and looked certain to score till Sean Lamont came across in cover and tackled him into the corner post for a drop-out.
When O'Connell came in at the side of a tackle/ruck Paterson made it 13-12 and then Hines came back. During his absence the Scottish forwards, to a man, had been brave and concentrated in their defence.
A kick into the box by Parks gave Scotland an attacking line-out and when Peter Stringer was offside, Paterson made it 15-13 to Scotland with 20 minutes to go.
Things were even better for Scotland when David Wallace was penalised and Scotland led 18-13 with 15 minutes to go, but in the next five minutes O'Gara kicked two penalties. Ireland led 19-18 with ten minutes to go.
In those ten minutes Scotland tried to run but by and large Ireland had them in a grip and could well have scored when O'Driscoll made a scoring opportunity out of nothing.
The final whistle went with the match in midfield and O'Driscoll went up the stairs to collect the Triple Crown trophy from the Princess Royal.
Man of the match: There were lots of brave Scots and it was their two wings who gave them most -- Chris Paterson of the unerring boot and Sean Lamont who started the Scots on a more confident path and saved a certain try with a cross tackle. Then there was the bravery of their whole pack especially when Hines was off. For Ireland, who would not have enjoyed nearly as much as they did the Croke Park encounter in the rain, Denis Hickie was good -- saved a try but should probably have scored one -- Paul O'Connell, of course, and points' machine Ronan O'Gara, who ran, tackled, kicked and scored the only try -- our Man of the Match.
Moment of the match: The charge-down by Ronan O'Gara which led to the try.
Villain of the Match: Possibly the captains -- Chris Paterson and Brian O'Driscoll who lost their rags when, above all they should have kept theirs.
It was Ireland's sixth successive win over Scotland.
The scorers:
For Scotland:
Pens: Paterson 6
For Ireland:
Try: O'Gara
Con: O'Gara
Pens: O'Gara 4
Yellow card: Hines (42, Scotland, deliberate offside)
Scotland: 15 Hugo Southwell, 14 Sean Lamont, 13 Marcus Di Rollo, 12 Rob Dewey, 11 Chris Paterson (c), 10 Dan Parks, 9 Chris Cusiter, 8 David Callam, 7 Kelly Brown, 6 Simon Taylor, 5 Scott Murray, 4 Nathan Hines, 3 Euan Murray, 2 Dougie Hall, 1 Gavin Kerr.
Replacements: 16 Ross Ford, 17 Allan Jacobsen, 18 Jim Hamilton, 19 Allister Hogg, 20 Rory Lawson, 21 Andrew Henderson, 22 Rory Lamont.
Ireland: 15 Girvan Dempsey, 14 Shane Horgan, 13 Brian O'Driscoll, 12 Gordon D'Arcy, 11 Denis Hickie, 10 Ronan O'Gara, 9 Peter Stringer, 8 Denis Leamy, 7 David Wallace, 6 Simon Easterby, 5 Paul O'Connell, 4 Donncha O'Callaghan, 3 John Hayes, 2 Rory Best, 1 Marcus Horan,
Replacements: 16 Jerry Flannery, 17 Simon Best, 18 Mick O'Driscoll, 19 Neil Best, 20 Eoin Reddan, 21 Paddy Wallace, 22 Andrew Trimble.
Referee: Dave Pearson (England)
Touch judges: Nigel Owens (Wales), Tim Hayes (Wales)
Television match official: Hugh Watkins (Wales)
Assessor: Michel Lamoulie (France)
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