Ireland overpower Scotland to claim triple crown and throw down Six Nations title gauntlet

In sporting vernacular Scotland have long looked on Dublin as a ‘hard place to go’. Roughly an hour’s flight time from Edinburgh, they get to stay in a decent hotel, play in a relatively modern stadium with good facilities, against modestly resourced opponents, and in conditions they could never describe as alien. Despite this comforting familiarity, ever since Dan Parks nailed a touchline penalty at Croke Park in 2010 to scuttle Ireland’s triple crown voyage they have associated this fixture with trying to solve a Rubik’s Cube wearing oven gloves.

On it goes. Faced with the losing run in the fixture hitting a dozen, Scotland did their best to change the narrative. On a bright and bracing day in front of a full house, paying crazy money for the privilege, Scotland played their part in an enthralling game for no reward. Ireland’s bonus point win gives them a triple crown in a season where that prize exceeds its usual merit.

In a game where Ireland had a squabble over the man-of-the-match award – Tom O’Toole with 19 tackles, Tadhg Beirne, Caelan Doris, Dan Sheehan and Stuart McCloskey – it went to Doris, who was tireless.

Given the buildup, the least we hoped for was an explosive opening. To have four tries in the first quarter was a bonus and one removed from a bonus point for the home team. Almost as important in that first half was their capacity for surviving sustained pressure.

Having got off to a flyer through Jamie Osborne, scoring under the posts off a lovely pass by Jack Crowley, Scotland levelled it up four minutes later with a patient and accurate buildup delivering out wide for Darcy Graham.

Dan Sheehan dives over to score Ireland’s second try. Photograph: Seb Daly/Sportsfile/Getty Images

Just as this game was presenting itself as a ‘you score, we score’ contest, Ireland started closing the door. They had gone into a 14-7 lead thanks to a familiar finish by the excellent Sheehan off a maul, when they began to force cracks in the Scotland attack.

Either side of a brilliant try out wide by Robert Baloucoune on 19 minutes, they began to do damage on both sides of the ball. First, McCloskey shut down Finn Russell to end a Scottish visit to the Irish 22; second, they choked a blue maul for a valuable turnover; third, O’Toole backed up his strong scrummaging with a turnover at another Scottish ruck close in. To cap it off, Zander Fagerson was done for an extra roll to protect the ball in the tackle under pressure from Beirne.

It was all adding up, enhanced by a scrum that had delivered a penalty and a free kick, and a lineout that was in top gear. Interestingly they chose not to challenge Scotland on most of their lineout throws, regardless of proximity to the Irish line, and then nicked one the first time they put a man in the air.

The aggregate left Scotland not just trailing 19-7 at the break but trying to join the dots between establishing continuous rugby all the way to the tryline. That’s what got them into a position on the last day where they were in with a shout of silverware.

Rory Darge slides home to score Scotland’s third try in the 60th minute. Photograph: Brian Lawless/PA

If their phase play was not delivering then they needed more broken-field situations, more opportunities for Russell to do damage off the cuff. That in turn meant Ireland’s kick-chase game had to be near perfect and their discipline solid. In a game as tough as this, two penalties in a row constitutes a sequence, so when that unfolded in Scotland’s favour in the third quarter it spelt trouble.

That came in the shape of Russell squeezing over and adding the points to his own try to make it a five point game. When Beirne had to go off with a blood injury it robbed the home team of a leader and opened the door for Darragh Murray to make his Six Nations debut. The Connacht second row had barely broken a sweat when he went over from about a metre.

If that was reflective of how tight the game was then it changed complexion in the final quarter with Tommy O’Brien – eight tries in nine Tests – scoring twice to wipe out Rory Darge’s effort. The scoreline looked lopsided at the end but then that’s the story of this fixture.