Six Nations: Clinical Ireland down slow starting Scots
By Rob Mulhern
Last Updated: 21/03/16 11:38am
Ireland beat Scotland 35-25 in an ill-tempered Six Nation's encounter in Dublin.
This was a test billed as a possible season-defining contest for both sides but Ireland stole Scotland's momentum in a testy, seven try encounter.
Buoyed by last week's victory against France, Vern Cotter's side were expected to ask serious questions of a side that thrashed Italy, but Scotland were out-punched to the point of being unrecognisable in the first half.
The hosts dominated possession and territory with their backrow, led by the CJ Stander, playing the Scots to a standstill.
Johnny Sexton pushed Ireland ahead with three penalties in the first quarter, before a mercurial effort from Scotland's Stuart Hogg ignited the game.
However, it was Ireland who took the most from this score with Stander muscling over a reply, before Keith Earls crossed to crown his 50th cap.
Still, Scotland remained in touch through Greg Laidlaw and trailing 21-13 at the break, the visitors had good grounds for optimism because they'd yet to play.
Gratefully, they returned in a higher gear, but the balance of power remained on the side of Ireland, and when Conor Murray crossed on 48 minutes the game looked safe.
Scotland though were proving an irritation hard to shake. They regrouped and stretched the Irish defence thin enough for Richie Gray to cross under the posts on 55 minutes.
And Ireland were holding a precarious looking 28-20 lead with Scotland having found their game face. However, it was one that turned ugly when Alex Dunbar was sent to sin bin for flipping Johnny Sexton at a ruck. .
Within minutes of that indiscretion, Devon Toner crossed for his first international try.
That score sealed the game and sparked an unseemly scrum behind the posts but the heaviest blow landed was to Scotland's chances.
In the first half Ireland establishing themselves from the outset.
Johnny Sexton kicked two from three penalties awarded through the opening ten minutes with the Ireland backrow of CJ Stander, Jamie Heaslip and Tommy O'Donnell getting through a ton of work.
Stander was immense, carrying often and making the kind of muscular yards that have made him vital for Munster and Ireland this season.
But equally so, the contributions of Stuart Hogg, He conjured a brilliant try after fielding a Conor Murray kick before streaking between Mike Ross and Rory Best to blaze to the line.
But that score aside, the new look Scotland looked worryingly like their former selves for the majority of the opening 40 minutes.
Ireland were cleaner and more clinical about their work. Scotland, more inclined to cough up careless penalties.
With John Barclay in the sin bin, Ireland struck for two tries. The first, a burly effort from close in from Stander on 27 minutes and then Keith Earls crossed and calmly dotted down after a Sexton chip-behind led to a chaotic collision between Tommy Seymour and Hogg.
The game was ignited by the latter's mercurial score at the end of the first quarter. But if anything it was a moment that sparked Ireland's engine.
They drove on relentlessly, if steadily, with Alex Dunbar's late try glossing the scoreline but not Scotland's overall performance.
