Scotland A... 22 Ireland A... 22A mixed bag of a match and a mixed bag of emotions afterwards. In the opening defence of their A championship, Ireland were grateful still to be in sight of a fired-up Scottish side by the break, then had the winning of the match in the palm of their hands, but were ultimately grateful to salvage a draw with the last kick of the match - an 86th-minute penalty by Barry Everitt.
That Ireland struggled to gain any sort of foothold in the first-half was primarily due to an awful kicking game. Ireland missed seven out of eight kicks to touch, with Everitt missing three out of four penalties for attacking throw-ins, while the one touch he found provided the basis for a well-worked try; the outstanding Eric Miller and Donncha O'Callaghan punched holes before Neil Doak put Rob Henderson over.
Continually running foul of the unknown French referee Christophe Berdos, whose decisions were often mind-boggling, Ireland couldn't prevent Jason White being rumbled over from two close-range tap-penalty moves.
John Kelly, James Topping and Jeremy Staunton often provided last-ditch defensive heroics - though the latter was binned for a deliberate knock-on - while Duncan Hodge also missed a penalty from in front of the posts and Simon Webster just overcooked a chip through for an otherwise certain seven-pointer.
With Doak and Everitt orchestrating a running game in the second half, Ireland were transformed. Simon Easterby and Justin Fitzpatrick provided the hard yards for Staunton, Henderson and Miller to put Topping over in the corner, and after a lovely lineout by Kelly, Henderson barged over for his second try.
But Ireland lost vital balls in contact and another ridiculous penalty for a delayed Doak put-in to a scrum that had skewed was the prelude to James McLaren scoring off Hodge's skip pass.
It seemed Ireland's luck was out when Hodge squeezed over a penalty off the upright after Everitt had seen a more difficult penalty rebound from the post, only for Miller, David Quinlan and Dawson - whose skills shone through the icy gloom - to inspire a brilliant pitch-length move that earned a deserved last-ditch draw.
SCORING SEQUENCE - 5 mins: White try, 5-0; 19: Henderson try 5-5; 36: White try, Hodge con 12-5; (half-time); 46: Topping try, Everitt con 12-12; 52: Henderson try, Everitt con 12-19; 61: McLaren try, Hodge con 19-19; 76: Hodge pen 22-19; 86: Everitt pen 22-22.
SCOTLAND A: S Moffat (Glasgow); S Webster (Edinburgh), J McLaren (Begles/Bordeaux), A Henderson (Glasgow), C Joiner (Edinburgh); D Hodge (Edinburgh, capt), G Beveridge (Glasgow); A Jacobsen (Edinburgh), R Russell (Saracens), C Smith (Edinburgh), J White (Glasgow), I Fullarton (Sale), A Rennick (Borders), A Wilson (Glasgow), J Petrie (Glasgow). Replacements: D Lee (Edinburgh) for McLaren (62 mins).
IRELAND A: J Staunton (Munster and Garryowen); J Topping (Ulster and Ballymena), G Darcy (Leinster and Lansdowne), R Henderson (Munster and Young Munster), J Kelly (Munster and Cork Constitution); B Everitt (London Irish), N Doak (Ulster and Belfast Harlequins, capt); J Fitzpatrick (Ulster and Dungannon), P Shields (Ulster and Belfast Harlequins), S Best (Ulster and Belfast Harlequins), D O'Callaghan (Munster and Cork Constitution), M O'Driscoll (Munster and Cork Constitution), S Easterby (Llanelli), K Dawson (London Irish), E Miller (Leinster and Terenure College). Replacements: D Quinlan (Leinster and Blackrock College) for Topping (67 mins), P Bracken (Connacht and Galwegians) for Best, B Casey (London Irish) for O'Driscoll (both 69 mins), A McCullen (Leinster and Lansdowne) for Easterby (71 mins), B O'Meara (Leinster and Cork Constitution) for Doak (77 mins).
