Ireland prove best in an injury-strewn Six Nations clash

Guinness Six Nations:

Scotland 11, Ireland 32

TODAY’S Six Nations second round game in Murrayfield had its share of stops and starts, but after an 80 minutes full-blooded effort, Ireland deserved their bonus point win. A try after seven minutes, Sam Prendergast finding Calvin Nash out wide, and the out-half also landed the conversion to get the visitors’ up and going. The sending off of Scotland left wing Duhan van der Merwe on 14 minutes was followed by a collision between two home players, resulting in Finn Russell no longer taking part, and the long stoppage resulted in a lull of the pace of the game. Scotland just could not get any momentum going and Ireland scores followed, Sam Prendergast kicking a penalty and converting Caelen Doris’s try that increased the lead to 0-17 with 30 minutes on the clock. Just before the break, Scotland got their first score when they got over for a try but failed to add the extras.

The second half saw the home side trouble the Irish in the opening minutes and they added two penalties to cut the lead to 11-17. Ireland replied with tries from James Lowe and Jack Conan and Sam Prendergast kicked one of the conversions and added a late penalty. Near the finish Scotland scored a converted try but the 11-32 winning margin gives Ireland a comfortable position for the next three games, against Italy, Wales and France.

 Ireland: Hugo Keenan; Calvin Nash, Robbie Henshaw, Bundee Aki, James Lowe; Sam Prendergast, Jamison Gibson-Park; Andrew Porter, Rónan Kelleher, Finlay Bealham; James Ryan, Tadhg Beirne; Peter O’Mahony, Josh van der Flier, Caelan Doris (capt).
Replacements: Dan Sheehan, Cian Healy, Thomas Clarkson, Ryan Baird, Jack Conan, Conor Murray, Jack Crowley, Garry Ringrose.
Scotland: Scotland: Blair Kinghorn; Darcy Graham, Huw Jones, Tom Jordan, Duhan van der Merwe; Finn Russell (co-capt), Ben White; Rory Sutherland, Dave Cherry, Zander Fagerson; Jonny Gray, Grant Gilchrist; Matt Fagerson, Rory Darge (co-capt), Jack Dempsey.
Replacements: Ewan Ashman, Pierre Schoeman, Will Hurd, Sam Skinner, Gregor Brown, Jamie Ritchie, Jamie Dobie, Stafford McDowall.

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