Ireland 17
Scotland 13
THERE WERE TIMES when the Irish fans worried that their team might not be able to clinch the Six Nations themselves, that they’d have to wait for the result from Lyon to be sure.
There were moments when some of them stressed that they might not get to watch Peter O’Mahony lift the Six Nations trophy as rumours of his possible retirement from international rugby swept through the stands of the Aviva Stadium. They worried that it might start and end in tears for O’Mahony, who showed his emotions during the anthem.
But the bottom line is that Ireland are Six Nations champions, their 16th title. Andy Farrell’s side have gone back-to-back and are deserved champions after wins over France, Italy, Wales, and now the Scots.
No championship is perfect but Ireland had enough quality to bounce back from last year’s World Cup disappointment and claim more silverware. This achievement should not be underappreciated, particularly given that they lost talisman Johnny Sexton to retirement.
Yet this was not quite the commanding performance that Andy Farrell’s men had targeted to seal the title as they struggled at times against an incredibly hard-working and resilient Scottish defence.
Gregor Townsend’s men didn’t get much opportunity to threaten Ireland with their dangerous attack but they sure tackled with heart. By the end, they had racked up a remarkably high tally of 239 tackles. They deserve great credit for that effort in the face of an Irish onslaught.
Ireland finished on top as their pressure yielded a second-half try for prop Andrew Porter, who scored off a slick five-metre tap play, adding to a first-half score from hooker Dan Sheehan off a botched Scotland lineout close to their own tryline.
The first half was poor from Ireland, with errors aplenty as they laboured. That wasn’t helped by losing fullback Hugo Keenan to a hip injury in the warm-up, meaning Jordan Larmour came into the number 15 shirt for his first Test start since 2021.
There’s no doubt that Ireland were jittery at stages of this game, similarly to last season’s Grand Slam clincher against England at this venue. Finn Russell and co. pitched up at the Aviva Stadium determined to wreck the party but they ultimately fell to a 10th consecutive defeat to Ireland.
Farrell’s men are Six Nations champions again and now look forward to a thrilling rest of this year with two Tests against the world champion Springboks to come this summer before a busy four-game autumn back in Dublin.
Ireland led 7-6 at the interval despite a first half in which they turned over a lot of possession in the face of the cohesive, aggressive Scottish defence.
The home team needed a big defensive play of their own early on as lock Joe McCarthy made a crucial strip in a tackle on Scottish prop Zander Fagerson metres from the Irish tryline after a string of errors from Farrell’s men in the opening exchanges.
The Scots took an eighth-minute lead when James Lowe was pinged for crawling on the ground after being tackled, with Russell calmly stroking over the opening three points.
A couple of good back-to-back kicks down the left from Jack Crowley and Lowe finally put some pressure on Scotland in their own 22 and they duly cracked after exiting poorly from the second of those. Duhan van der Merwe gave up an offside penalty, Ireland kicked into the right corner, and though Scotland tackled Sheehan into touch from the Irish five-metre lineout trick play, they then imploded on their own five-metre line.
Hooker George Turner’s throw was just above the reach of Grant Gilchrist and Sheehan gleefully gathered to score past scrum-half Ben White, with Crowley converting smartly from the right of the posts.
Yet that score didn’t seem to settle Ireland. McCarthy was soon caught offside in midfield and Russell pulled the scoreline back to 7-6 before an error-strewn second quarter.
The Scotland defence was especially impressive in this period as Ireland enjoyed lots of possession but created very little. The impressive Scotland flanker Andy Christie won a breakdown turnover at one stage and contributed to a choke tackle turnover later on as his team muscled up.
The Scots had a big breakout through centre Stafford McDowall, who beat Bundee Aki one-on-one to scorch 60 metres upfield, but Ireland scrambled well to halt him and recover.
Ireland had a chance to extend their lead in the 35th minute after the softest of Scottish penalties for Christie crossing as prop Pierre Schoeman delayed his pass, but Crowley was wide from 45 metres out straight in front of the posts.
And there was one last opportunity for Ireland to attack with the clock in the red after Blair Kinghorn’s high tackle on Calvin Nash but it ended with another Irish error as Caelan Doris passed into touch out on the left.
It was all nervy stuff so the sight of Lowe powering down the left-hand side and offloading to Aki in the opening minutes of the second half was a soothing balm for the Irish supporters. The resulting pressure yielded a penalty for Fagerson illegally playing the ball in the ruck and Crowley popped over the points for a 10-6 lead.
The Irish fans were delighted to see Russell then kick his restart out on the full and as they burst into a huge rendition of The Fields of Athenry, the Ireland pack went work winning a dominant scrum penalty.
Ireland suddenly seemed to have found their rhythm and turned on their power game over 10 bruising phases on the ensuing lineout attack, earning themselves a penalty under the posts.
It was a gimme three points but O’Mahony decided they would tap. Sheehan burst at the Scottish line and two phases later, tighthead prop Tadhg Furlong brilliantly rode a double tackle before stretching out for what looked like a try. But the on-field decision from referee Matt Carley was no try and TMO Marius Jonker told him to stick with it.
The home support were deeply frustrated and Ireland seemingly were too as they knocked on their next possession. Furlong also had to go for a HIA after head contact from Turner in the tackle for that non-try decision and another knock.
Finlay Bealham came on and immediately helped Ireland to a massive scrum that sent the Scots trundling backwards, with a clever Nash kick then heaping pressure on Scotland close to their tryline.
Nash himself went close to scoring on the next Irish attack after Scotland had cleared to touch but he knocked the ball on a couple of metres out after a slaloming run in off the right touchline.
An Irish lineout loss disrupted their pressure game briefly but an absent-minded offside penalty from Fagerson handed them possession back as Farrell sent on impact subs like Ryan Baird and Garry Ringrose, who replaced Nash on the right wing.
Scotland’s tackle count had already passed 200 by now, a gigantic total in the 60th minute, yet they still refused to crack. After their maul was stopped short, Ireland battered through phases at close-range but Ringrose knocked on as they moved the ball left. Ireland followed it up by conceding a scrum penalty.
Just when Scotland might have thought the onslaught was over, they knocked on near Ireland’s 22 and Ringrose raced all the way down to the Scottish 22 where left wing van der Merwe made an excellent cover tackle. The fatigue had set in and though Henshaw was brilliantly held up over the tryline by Cam Redpath, there were three Irish penalty advantages playing and sub hooker Ewan Ashman was sin-binned.
Ireland could have been forgiven for taking the three points but with Doris having taken over as skipper with O’Mahony replaced, they went for the kill. A clever tap penalty play saw loosehead Porter smash his way over off replacement hooker Rónan Kelleher’s disguised pass.
Crowley made it 17-6 with his conversion and finally, the Irish fans could breathe out with 15 minutes left to play and Scotland down to 14 men.
And yet it all ended in a rather unsatisfactory fashion for Ireland.
Replacement out-half Harry Byrne’s high tackle saw him sin-binned, with the decision sent to the bunker but remaining a yellow, and then Huw Jones broke Henshaw’s tackle and rounded Lowe’s last attempt to score a deserved Scottish try.
Bu Ireland managed to force a final turnover from the Scots and booted the ball out. The Cranberries’ Zombie rang out in Dublin and Farrell’s men can celebrate.
Ireland scorers:
Tries: Dan Sheehan, Andrew Porter
Conversions: Jack Crowley [2 from 2]
Penalties: Jack Crowley [1 from 2]
Scotland scorers:
Try: Cameron Redpath
Conversion: Finn Russell [1 from 1]
Penalties: Finn Russell [2 from 2]
IRELAND: Jordan Larmour (Harry Byrne ’68); Calvin Nash (Garry Ringrose ’57), Robbie Henshaw, Bundee Aki, James Lowe; Jack Crowley, Jamison Gibson-Park (Conor Murray ’70); Andrew Porter (Cian Healy ’68), Dan Sheehan (Rónan Kelleher ’56), Tadhg Furlong (HIA – Finlay Bealham ’52); Joe McCarthy (Ryan Baird ’56), Tadhg Beirne; Peter O’Mahony (captain) (Jack Conan ’64), Josh van der Flier, Caelan Doris.
SCOTLAND: Blair Kinghorn (Kyle Rowe ’67); Kyle Steyn, Huw Jones, Stafford McDowall (Cameron Redpath ’62), Duhan van der Merwe; Finn Russell (co-captain), Ben White (George Horne ’62); Pierre Schoeman (Rory Sutherland ’49), George Turner (Ewan Ashman ’49 (yellow card ’65)), Zander Fagerson (Javan Sebastian ’71); Grant Gilchrist, Scott Cummings (Sam Skinner ’71); Andy Christie, Rory Darge (co-captain) (Matt Fagerson ’62), Jack Dempsey.
Referee: Matthew Carley [RFU].
