A four try to one win, with some great performances, means Declan Kidney should be leaving Aviva Stadium a very happy man tonight.
Any fears we may have had about the absence of Paul O’Connell and Sean O’Brien were dispelled as Ireland condemned Scotland to a wooden spoon match with a 32-14 win at Aviva Stadium tonight.
Scotland started like a team that meant business and after gaining a toe-hold in Irish territory, Greig Laidlaw kicked the game’s first points after just four minutes.
But Ireland soon found their feet and Jonny Sexton kicked the first of a few wobbly looking penalties to level it before captain Best ploughed over for the game’s first try after 14 minutes, a fantastic way to mark his first start as Ireland captain on home soil.
Sexton converted and landed a penalty to put Ireland four points clear but Laidlaw reduced the deficit to just one and Best was forced to make a lung-bursting run to gather a dangerous Scottish punt on the half-hour.
Then a mistake-laden game endured an error-filled final 10 minutes of the half. A laughable attempt at a tackle by Sean Lamont let Eoin Reddan slip in untouched for a very easy try, the second of his Irish career, and Ireland were dreaming of a comfortable half-time lead.
Then Reddan missed a tackle, somewhat understandably, as the giant Scottish lock Richie Gray blew past him, and Rob Kearney, to score his first ever international try. Yet, Ireland would go in well ahead after all when a fine move, led by Cian Healy – a superb ball carrier all day – drove Ireland deep into Scottish territory and Stephen Ferris, anther powerhouse, teed up Andrew Trimble for the third Irish try of the half. Again the Scottish defending left a lot to be desired.
A missed Sexton conversion meant Ireland led at the break 22-14. Declan Kidney would have been very pleased with Peter O’Mahony and Donnacha Ryan but concerned that a fairly toothless Scotland had made a game of it.
The second half never touched the first for intensity or entertainment. A quick-thinking cross-field kick by Sexton was expertly fielded by Tommy Bowe but the Monaghan man took a number of movements to ground it with Graeme Morrison on top of him and the referee disallowed the eventual touchdown for a double movement.
A raft of replacements then stalled the game even further. On 53 minutes Tomás O’Leary came in for the impressive Reddan, Sean Cronin ended Best’s glory day early and Ronan O’Gara slotted in for Sexton with the Leinster moving back as Gordon D’Arcy went to the bench.
The sickening clash of Lee Jones and Trimble on the hour mark, which knocked Jones clean out before he hit the Aviva turf, was not a highlight by any stretch but it did drag the mood of the crowd down for a while. Hopefully the Edinburgh wing wasn’t seriously hurt but he is most likely facing a spell off the pitch with concussion by the looks of it.
Shane Jennings joined the fray, as did Fergus McFadden and Ireland did manage to pick it up and click a few more times in the final 20. The first score of the half was a Sexton penalty after 71 minutes and after Max Evans saw yellow for illegally interfering with Keith Earls a series of scrums led to a McFadden try.
Ireland now face England on St Patrick’s Day, which they won’t need to get geed up for. We saw lots of good things from Ireland today, especially in the scrum and all the Irish forwards had a red-letter day. Donnacha Ryan picked up the man of the match gong and it was well deserved for the Munster man.
Confidence should be high for the trip to Twickenham next week. Can’t wait.
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