Scotland ... 6 Ireland ... 36Lopsided scorelines come more easily in the modern game and this one may not have entirely conveyed the nature of events in Murrayfield yesterday, but after 18 years of hurt Ireland won't be complaining too loudly. Nor indeed will the Scots for in truth the record 30-point winning margin underlined the class divide.
Being the recycling kings they are, the Scots, bizarrely, had more of the ball, and for the first hour certainly, much more of the territory. But both mentally and physically Ireland were as tough as they've been on the road since they won in Paris three years ago.
As with Leinster, this Irish side has the capacity to soak it up and hit on the break, thereby demoralising home sides, who can't quite believe the scoreboard. Thus, when they had opportunities, Ireland converted them with an efficiency that Scotland couldn't summon up if they had been here for a week. It was a classic, smash-and-grab away performance, akin to a football side absorbing plenty of home pressure, and then silencing the locals with an opportunist 3-0 win.
Besides, any team that cannot convert a five-on-two overlap doesn't really deserve to make much impression on the scoreboard. Nearing half-time, pummelling at the Irish line and still only 13-0 down, all of Murrayfield stood up in expectation of a certain try as they switched from right to left. But with Girvan Dempsey endeavouring to mark four men, Brendan Laney threw a wild pass that fell behind Gordon Bulloch, a relieved Dempsey hounding the hooker into touch.
The problem for the Scots is that their hard-working forwards are also their best ball players, and no one tried more inventively to make things happen than Simon Taylor and Tom Smith. Alas, they've nothing like Ireland's cutting edge. Time was when it used to be the other way around.
Not that visions of past Murrayfield horrors weren't revived. A bout of madcap, crazy keystone cops rugby, which seems to be typical of this fixture, had seen Shane Horgan run back the kick-off by Gordon Ross, only for Denis Hickie's relieving kick from the recycle to be charged down. In trying to gather the ball David Humphreys saw it cannon off his chest and the crossbar. Stuart Grimes clutched the leather from the air in the Irish in-goal area but the video referee wasn't convinced he'd grounded the ball under pressure from Reggie Corrigan and Brian O'Driscoll. That was just the first 20 seconds. However, Ireland stayed cool, and Humphreys's masterful performance didn't just begin and end with his 26 points.
From his first long touch-find after that nerve-jangling start, which nearly saw Ireland concede a madcap try inside 22 seconds, he inspired confidence in those around him. He also led the defensive line-up very well and made his tackles. Vintage 'Jackie' then, on the day he equalled Jackie Kyle's 46 caps as Irish outhalf. Eddie O'Sullivan couldn't have asked more of him and it will be hard to drop him now.
That first, calming scrum and Victor Costello's rumble also set a tone, as did the ensuing, stolen Scottish lineout. No less than a near impenetrable defence the Irish set-pieces were the rocks on which this win was founded, and given it was the Scots' famed pack this was quite a feather in the cap for the Irish eight and forwards coach Niall O'Donovan.
Costello was immense, his priceless, peerless ability to manufacture go-forward ball giving an impetus to this pack that otherwise they simply wouldn't have. Keith Gleeson wasn't half bad either. Two lineouts, a couple of restarts, three or four vital steals at the breakdown and heaven knows how many tackles. Malcolm O'Kelly too had a big game.
Admittedly, the decision to put boot to leather with potentially attacking ball seven or more times via Humphreys and Brian O'Driscoll in the first quarter enabled Scotland to run from deep and build through the phases more. But O'Sullivan maintained that this tactic, to make the Scots turn and also control the tempo of the game, worked.
Humphreys having provided a settling, early lead, Ireland struck stealthily nearing the half-hour. O'Driscoll was already warming to his task - despite the best efforts of Brendan Laney to decapitate him with a "stiff-arm tackle" which should have earned a yellow card - and warning the Scots of the damage to come. From an O'Kelly take and a Costello rumble, he arced through Laney and Andy Craig, Denis Hickie then taking Glenn Metcalfe's tackle to score. Humphreys added penalties either side of the break and that aforementioned let-off before the Scots came knocking again. Once more Ireland stayed cool, made plenty of ball-and-man tackles, kept their shape, rumbled an intended Scottish line-out maul over the touchline and relieved the siege when Humpheys intercepted.
Back Scotland came though, courtesy of a penalty for O'Kelly's swipe at Taylor off the ball, but again Ireland held their line and Scotland settled for a second Ross penalty.
If the Scots weren't spent by then, they certainly were when Geordan Murphy pilfered an unattended Scottish ruck ball on the Irish 22, and outsprinted replacement Scottish prop Gavin Kerr to his own kick downfield. Without breaking stride Murphy kicked ahead with his left foot with perfect weight to beat the covering Kenny Logan to the touchdown. His ninth try in 12 Tests.
The Scots must even be getting a little sick of Ireland by now, and certainly were by the time Humphreys, fittingly, applied the coup de grace. The pack produced their biggest maul of the match, and Kevin Maggs swept through onto another O'Driscoll switch pass before linking with Hickie, Humprheys popping up for the final offload, and adding both a conversion and his fifth penalty.
This was Ireland now bossing the match as a team, but given another attacking penalty Humphreys exultantly opted for row Z and the final whistle. They'd dipped their bread sufficiently by then. They weren't greedy.
