Ireland 34 Scotland 13:IRELAND DID unto Scotland what France had done to them, and indeed the Scots, beforehand. At times, this RBS Six Nations seems to be the year of losing dangerously, those teams that have the better of the possession, territory and attacking opportunities being stealthily picked to bits. In that sense, class told once again in this fixture.
Indeed, this went along familiar lines. Home team and crowd alike were up for this game more so than three weeks earlier - even if, surprisingly, it was less than a full house - but both had to gradually work their way into the match and feed hungrily off relative scraps.
Lineout is, however, king when it comes to ownership of the pill, and Ireland's malfunctioning lineout has now become a real concern, the blame for which cannot be entirely apportioned to Bernard Jackman and his throwing, even if he is liable to pay the biggest price.
As flagged in their selection, the Scots chose this day to play a ball-in-hand game, Chris Paterson's selection undoubtedly giving them a running threat at outhalf and more of a running threat across the line, although he was at fault directly or indirectly for three of Ireland's tries.
They even eschewed an early three-pointer and the thought occurred as the opening 10 minutes or so unfolded that if the visitors kept the ball for another 70 minutes it could finish 0-0.
Nevertheless, that Ireland ultimately won pulling up was no great surprise either for, as one also suspected, a reshaped team - enforced on the coach by injuries as much as anything else - had the spark of a team with players in form and operating in their natural positions.
Inevitably, all eyes were on Geordan Murphy. He would have felt it and his response told us plenty about his mental strength and much about his truly exceptional footballing talent. He adds 20 per cent to Ireland's running game and his bravery and assurance spread through the team like a stream.
At a stroke the back three and indeed the whole backline had a more balanced and potent look, Ronan O'Gara and Brian O'Driscoll seemingly excited and enthused by the presence of a strike runner hitting the line, while Andrew Trimble gave the midfield real defensive and offensive ballast.
As forecast too, despite Simon Webster's selection at outside centre also working, achieving even less than parity up front was sufficient for Ireland such was the yawning class divide behind the scrum.
A rock-solid defence was undoubtedly the platform for this latest of seven successive wins in the Six Nations over Scotland and, in style and certainly in execution, it was more in keeping with the earlier successes in that run than the latter couple of arm wrestles.
Despite a strong debut by Alasdair Strokosch, the injury-affected and redesigned Scottish backrow was utterly eclipsed.
Jamie Heaslip already looks to the manor born, his performance as much Foleyesque in the grunt and grind department as Costello-like in breaking off the base. And the thing about him is that he'll become even more effective the more he settles into this team and the international environment.
With John Hayes a brick wall around the fringes, David Wallace hunted down his prey all over the park, his tackle count of 20 and ball-carrying arguably making him a more deserving MoM than Murphy, though no one was complaining about that save for Murphy himself.
Denis Leamy, as has been his pattern in this championship, grew into the match with increasing presence.
A good, strong, body-on-the-line tackle on Rory Lamont in the sixth minute got Murphy into the game early on and from there he grew. His vision and clever kicking were the eventual foothold for Ireland's first foray into enemy territory, and the pack having rumbled to the posts, Kelly Brown's naïve defending enabled Wallace to score almost with embarrassment off Heaslip's feed inside from the base of a cement-tight five-metre scrum.
The ploy came straight off the training ground, and was probably first invented by William Webb Ellis himself.
Murphy was a major player in the second try as well, his bravery in attacking high balls ridiculing the notion that the man somehow lacks heart.
Credit too to Tommy Bowe for the chasing, follow-up tackle on Brown off O'Gara's restart, which forced Mike Blair to box-kick from deep, and to O'Gara for his in-and-out half-break and pass to O'Driscoll from which Rob Kearney held his depth when the skipper produced one of the plays of the day with his break and brilliantly floated pass.
Despite a second Paterson penalty, the Scots could still feel aggrieved by a 14-6 interval score. Heaslip's superb body positioning close to the line in tandem with Trimble kept out Rory Lamont. There was Kearney's hit on Lamont after good hands by Paterson, Webster and Hugo Southwell as the Scots also lost control of an attacking scrum and Nathan Hines just lost control.
A serial offender, in terms of temper, Hines could hardly seem less suited to a move to the Catalan hotbed of Perpignan - or then again, maybe he's a perfect fit.
With unerring accuracy, the Scots then took aim at their collective feet when failing to control O'Gara's second-half restart, Jackman pouncing and Leamy making some good yards for Marcus Horan to augment a good day at the office with a try off O'Gara's almost trademark crosskick hereabouts.
Webster's try was fair reward for the Scots' increased tempo and width, and the Welsh think tank will surely have noted that and the lack of line speed in Ireland's slightly bedraggled resetting defence.
Although O'Gara subsequently eschewed a couple of running opportunities that Scottish revival was kept in check.
Another big hit by Heaslip was the catalyst, and the ensuing candidate for try of the tournament simply would not have happened had Murphy not been on the pitch. His awareness off the opportunities presented by O'Driscoll running hard onto turnover ball saw him take a stunning line and offload - in turn surpassed by O'Gara's sleight of hand - for Bowe to cut inside and score off Trimble's well-timed pass.
Bowe's second try almost laughably exposed Scotland's limitations when seeking to play catch-up.
By then, thoughts were already running fast-forward to, potentially, the most eagerly awaited Irish-Welsh showdown in years.
SCORING SEQUENCE: 22 mins: D Wallace try, O'Gara con 7-0; 25: Paterson pen 7-3; 26: Kearney try, O'Gara con 14-3; 32: Paterson pen 14-6 (half-time 14-6); 41: Horan try 19-6; 50: O'Gara pen 22-6; 53: Webster try, Paterson con 22-13; 62: Bowe try, O'Gara con 29-13; 79: Bowe try 34-13.
IRELAND: G Murphy (Leicester Tigers); T Bowe (Ulster), B O'Driscoll (Leinster), A Trimble (Ulster), R Kearney (Leinster); R O'Gara (Munster), E Reddan (Wasps); M Horan (Leinster), B Jackman (Leinster), J Hayes (Munster); D O'Callaghan (Munster), M O'Driscoll (Munster); D Leamy (Munster), D Wallace (Munster), J Heaslip (Munster).
Replacements: R Best (Ulster) for Jackman (45 mins), P O'Connell (Munster) for M O'Driscoll (55 mins), S Easterby (Llanelli Scarlets) for Heaslip, S Horgan (Leinster) for B O'Driscoll (both 70 mins), P Stringer (Munster) for Reddan (71 mins), T Buckley (Munster) for Hayes (73 mins), P Wallace (Ulster) for O'Gara (77 mins).
SCOTLAND: H Southwell (Edinburgh); N Walker (Ospreys), S Webster (Edinburgh), A Henderson (Glasgow Warriors), R Lamont (Sale Sharks; C Paterson (Gloucester), M Blair (Edinburgh, capt); A Jacobsen (Edinburgh), R Ford (Edinburgh), E Murray (Northampton Saints); N Hines (Perpignan), S Macleod (Llanelli Scarlets); A Strokosch (Gloucester), A Hogg (Edinburgh), K Brown (Glasgow Warriors).
Replacements: R Rennie (Edinburgh) for Brown (46 mins), N de Luca (Edinburgh) for Walker (63-67 mins) and for Henderson (70 mins), J Hamilton (Leicester Tigers) for Hines (64 mins), D Parks (Edinburgh) for Southwell (66 mins), F Thomson (Glasgow Warriors) for Ford (70 mins), G Kerr (Edinburgh) for Jacobsen, C Cusiter (Perpignan) for Blair (both 72 mins), Ford for Murray (76 mins).
Referee: C Berdos (France).
PHASES OF PLAY
6 Scrums Won 5
0 Scrums Lost 0
9 Lineouts Won 15
4 Lineouts Lost 2
10 Pens Conceded 5
2 Freekicks Conceded 1
8 Mauls Won 8
15 Ruck and Drive 19
33 Ruck and Pass 78
BALL WON
56 In Open Play 105
17 In Opponents' 22 35
20 At Set-pieces 30
4 Turnovers 1
TEAM STATISTICS
76 Passes Completed 179
6 Line Breaks 1
30 Possession Kicked 21
0 Errors from Kicks 3
13 Kicks to Touch 5
28% Kicks /Passes 10%
123 Tackles Made 64
6 Missed 6
95% Tackles Completed 91%
4 Offloads in Tackle 9
6% Offloads/Tackled 7%
12 Total Errors Made 13
15% Errors/Ball Won 9%
n Details supplied by SAS Software
