Scotland 18-32 Ireland: Six Nations champions produce statement bonus-point victory at Murrayfield

Ireland secured a dominant victory away to Scotland to move top of the Six Nations standings

Ireland produced a statement Six Nations victory away to Scotland at Murrayfield, moving to the top of the table with a 32-18 bonus-point win. 

Wings Calvin Nash and James Lowe, No 8 Caelan Doris and replacement back-row Jack Conan each scored tries in Edinburgh, as Ireland proved ruthless and dominant to bring up an 11th successive victory against the Scots.

Scotland fell 17-0 behind in the first half before rallying to 17-11 through a Duhan van der Merwe try and the boot of Blair Kinghorn, but Ireland pushed on again from there.

The task was made all the harder for the hosts by losing talented wing Darcy Graham and playmaker Finn Russell in the first half after a freak clash of heads with each other resulted in the former being stretchered off and the latter failing his HIA (head injury assessment).

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"Darcy [Graham] is at hospital now, I've not had an update. I believe there's no issues around his neck but they were checking out what caused the concussion and that no bones are broken in his face or skull area," Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend said.

"Finn [Russell] wasn't right as he was forgetting things and couldn't remember the next play when asked."

Scotland lost playmaker Finn Russell and wing Darcy Graham after the pair clashed heads

Ireland settled into an early period of dominance once centre Robbie Henshaw made a powerful break into the 22, and after turning down two potential shots at goal for kicks to the corner, the opening try duly arrived on eight minutes through Nash - the Munster wing collecting a long Sam Prendergast pass on advantage to score.

Calvin Nash got over for Ireland's opening try after a start filled with possession and pressure from the visitors

The visitors continued to place huge pressure on their hosts, and five minutes after that initial score they had strong claims for a penalty try when Nash was shoved in the back by Van der Merwe after the former had kicked ahead into in-goal.

Referee James Doleman surprisingly decreed it was foul play but only enough for a sin-binning and not a penalty-try offence.

Duhan van der Merwe was sin-binned for playing Nash off the ball after the latter kicked ahead into in-goal

Referee James Doleman surprisingly ruled Van der Merwe's act was not worthy of a penalty try

Scotland dug in with 14 to hold Ireland up over the tryline twice, but lost two key men in Graham and Russell while down to 14 players and under pressure.

Ireland increased their lead to 10-0 via a Prendergast penalty just prior to Van der Merwe's re-arrival, and if the away side were frustrated at their failure to score more against a man less, they didn't have to wait long to score again.

On 31 minutes Doris showed his power to force his way over past Grant Gilchrist, and when Prendergast converted again the score was an ominous 17-0.

Ireland captain Caelan Doris demonstrated his power to get over for their second try

Scotland finally came into the Test as an attacking entity thereafter, but two bits of superb defence - Peter O'Mahony at breakdown, James Ryan at lineout - kept them out.

Ireland looked to have done enough to get in at half-time keeping Scotland to nil when they snuffed out a 12-man rolling maul, but lock Ryan was penalised for sealing off at the final ruck of the half, allowing one last chance Scotland took spectacularly through Van der Merwe in the corner.

Duhan van der Merwe produced a sensational finish in the final play of the first half

Ireland came out off the pace at the start of the second half, with Kinghorn adding two penalties from close range after Scottish pressure, narrowing the gap to a single score before the 50th minute.

The visitors woke back to life five minutes after Kinghorn's second penalty, though, as Jamison Gibson-Park forced Kinghorn back over his own tryline for an Irish scrum-five.

From there, Lowe struck for Ireland's third try as they proved unrelenting within the 22 in terms of attacking - Scotland eventually just couldn't keep them out any longer.

James Lowe wrestled the ball over the tryline for Ireland's crucial third try

The Test was taken firmly away from Scotland five minutes after that as Conan dived over for Ireland's fourth after full-back Hugo Keenan had done marvellously to chase and claim a clever Gibson-Park chip, setting up another deadly attack in the 22.

Jack Conan forced his way over for Ireland's fourth try - clinching the bonus point

Prendergast added a penalty to the lead after Ireland's pack forced a scrum decision against head, and though Scotland's scrum-half Ben White scored a try via a rolling maul with four minutes to go, the hosts couldn't trouble the scoreboard again.

It means Townsend's men must travel to Twickenham and win in round three if they are to harbour any hopes of being involved in the title race.

Townsend: No one more disappointed than me

Scotland head coach Townsend said...

"It's really disappointing, and no one is more disappointed than me. Defeats against Ireland have shaped who we are as well and changed how we played.

"That's been transferred to other performances, but we didn't see that today and they deserved to win. We need to take the learnings out of the game.

"Ireland are the No 2 side in the world and are going for something unprecedented this year, a third Six Nations title in a row. No team has done that."

Scotland's Gregor Townsend revealed his great disappointment with the showing post-match

Ireland interim head coach Simon Easterby said…

"We always knew we'd have to shut them down and stop them getting time and space and momentum. We did really well without the ball but also in attack I felt we delivered a lot of what we worked on in the week, attacking Scotland in the right way.

"Although we conceded late in the first half, I felt the score-line was reflective of our dominance in the game and maybe we could have been one or two more scores up.

Simon Easterby is the interim head coach of Ireland with Andy Farrell on secondment to the British and Irish Lions

"You're always going to come up against a purple patch. At times we dealt with it really well and at others they stretched us, that's part of the game.

"We scrambled well and turned around a few situations where they got some ascendency. We kept them at arm's length and then had the opportunity to go up the other end and be clinical with the ball."

What's next?

Following the first rest week, Ireland are in action on Saturday February 22 for the third round of the championship, travelling to play Wales at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff (2.15pm kick-off).

Scotland next travel to face England at Twickenham on Saturday February 22 (4.45pm kick-off) for their third round clash.

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