Scotland Lose Battle To Forget In Dublin

Ireland 32-14 Scotland

by Dugald Skene

"We are where we are" were the strikingly resigned words from Andy Robinson during the press conference following Saturday's Scotland defeat to Ireland in Dublin.

It's easy to understand his frustrations. As seems to be the way with Scotland in this tournament, it was individual errors and lapses in concentration that led to Scotland's downfall, rather than coaches tactics or decisions.  Take the Irish tries, at least two of which could be considered soft from Scotland's point of view.  Certainly, Eoin Reddan's squirm from the tackle area to touch down for Ireland's second should never have been allowed by the Scottish forwards and Andrew Trimble should never have been allowed over the line from where he first made contact with Lee Jones.

Many of the pre-match issues and players that were singled out before the match never really came into play.  Ross Rennie had a relatively quiet game by his standards, rarely capitalising on the breakdown advantage that Scotland gained following the withdrawal of Sean O'Brien.  Tommy Bowe, with 5 tries already to his name, never really featured in a game where he was perhaps judged unlucky to not to be awarded a try after an almost comical wrestling match with Graeme Morrison.

And then there was the much vaunted 'choke' tackle.  Was it because one of it's key exponents Sean O'Brien was missing?  Was it because the Irish pulled back on their use of it following a week of talk on it? Or was it because Scotland played to avoid it happening so much?  Maybe it was a bit of all three, but ultimately it didn't play a part in the game as much as many predicted.  If anything, it was the Scots who tried it on the Irish every so often, with Rennie on at least two occasions seen to be holding the man up.

Instead of any of these, it was the lesser known names on the pitch that made much of the impact on this fixture.  With Paul O'Connell missing, it was Donacha Ryan who stepped up to give a man of the match performance, competing at the breakdown well, carrying efficiently and also was the first man in the tournament to steal ball from the Scottish lineout, twice.

The Irish as a whole were in a very aggressive mood throughout the fixture.  Cian Healy was like a bull in a china shop at times, constantly looking for carries and puncturing holes in the Scottish defensive line.  Simply, he was a pest for the Scots.  Johnny Sexton too, continued to provide evidence of his new found defensive confidence.  Rory Best was also feeling in confident mood as captain, choosing to kick to the corner when his team were 6-0 down.  His decision proved to be the right one as he himself scored in the corner from the resultant set play from the lineout, flooring Mike Blair in the process.

If there were signs of the Irish flagging after only a 6 day turnaround from the French game,I didn't see them. They looked more like the team that had the extra week preparation and that says a lot about the game.  Scotland looked tired at times and the usual perpetual ball carrying of Rennie and Ford didn't happen. 

I think the late withdrawal of Nick de Luca during the warm up due to a hamstring strain played a bigger factor than most recognise in the game.  With Max Evans taking his place at 13 and leaving Sean Lamont on the wing to look after Tommy Bowe, their was suddenly an imbalance in the midfield which Keith Earls did well to expose several times.  Had de Luca remained in the line up and played like he had against France, I think Scotland would have had the upper hand in the midfield, particularly in defence where he is more accustomed to the blitz defence.

There were positive performances from Scotland.  Denton was everywhere once again and Richie Gray had another fine game, scoring after selling fullback Rob Kearney the most audacious of dummies.

Richie Gray was in imperious form in the loose against Ireland

That try 3 minutes before half time should have seen Scotland go into half time with only a 3 point deficit but instead they allowed the Irish to come back at them, ending with Trimble scoring in the corner after Lee Jones missed his tackle.  What Gray's try did expose were the occasional defensive frailties of the Irish team in that first half, something that Scotland again failed to capitalise on.

With Scotland seep into Irish territory midway through the first half, Ross Ford made the decision to kick to the corner and work the ball from there rather than plump for the 3 points on offer.  Although Scotland didn't strike from the lineout play, the Irish were penalised, and warned for foul play from the referee.  What Ford did next, for me, showed his inexperience as captain.  By then opting for the 3 points, he not only undermined his own earlier decision to kick for touch, but also missed an opportunity to pile pressure on an Irish team in their own 5 metre zone whilst on a warning.  Any infringement would likely have taken the Irish down to 14 men at a time when Scotland were playing good rugby.

Scotland's frustration was epitomised by the Max Evans sinbinning. Hogg, who had a very quiet game, had the danger covered as Keith Earls poked through an over-egged kick towards the try line, but Evans felt compelled to tug on the Irishman who made the most of the contact.  It meant Evans was out for the final 7 minutes or so of the game.  Scotland were then camped within 10 metres of their own line for the remainder while Ireland capitalised on the numerical advantage with Fergus McFadden scoring under the posts.

There isn't a great deal that Scotland can take from this one.  After the weeks of promise accumulated from the performances against Wales and France particularly, much of the good work was undone to an extent.  Players underperformed or weren't allowed to perform.  I felt Greig Laidlaw's weaknesses were exposed by Ireland and he looked lost at times and very very small.  Stuart Hogg was quiet and Lee Jones missed tackle was the second time in this tournament he has been run over and a try has resulted.  His later clash with Andrew Trimble knocked him out cold on the pitch.  He was taken to hospital with his parents for precautionary scans. 

In truth, it was all of Scotland who were knocked out in Ireland and will want to forget this one quickly.  With a week before facing a tough Italian side in the 72,000 seat Stadio Olimpico in Rome, Scotland have a lot of work to do to avoid a wooden spoon and a seventh consecutive defeat.