By Matt Hardy
Ireland kept their Six Nations Grand Slam and Triple Crown hopes alive in a 7-22 victory over Scotland yesterday in Edinburgh.
Scotland centre Huw Jones and Ireland winger Mack Hansen traded tries in a tight opening 40 which saw the hosts return to the dressing room with a one-point deficit at 7-8.
But it was all Ireland in the second 40 with tries from James Lowe and Jack Conan.
Ireland on the cusp
Johnny Sexton’s seven points drew him level with Ronan O’Gara as Ireland’s joint-top point scorer in the competition with 557.
Crucially, however, Ireland were denied a try bonus point which ensures France are still able to win the title next week.
“We knew this was going to be our toughest game of the year”, man of the match Mack Hansen told BBC Sport. “To be fair to the Scottish lads, they showed up – it was such a tough test match.
“At half-time we said this is where we want to be. We thought we’d turn it on in the second half.
“We lost some really key players, but it just shows our depth and how versatile we are. It’s a great team to be a part of.”
Ireland host England next Saturday in Dublin with the hope of winning their first title since 2018 – where they beat next week’s hosts 24-15 to secure the Grand Slam.
Beforehand, France will need to beat Wales in Paris to put pressure on Ireland.
Clinical edge lost
Scotland can still finish second for the first time in Six Nations history if they beat Italy well next week and Wales fail to win on the continent.
“Look, that first half we lacked a clinical edge”, Scotland captain Jamie Ritchie said.
“Credit to Ireland in the second half, they put a lot of pressure on our breakdown, we couldn’t get any continuity and couldn’t create as many chances.
“They’re a very good side. We knew we could apply pressure if we slowed their ball down. We let them get momentum in the second half and we were on the wrong side of the scoreline.”
World No1 side Ireland were favourites for the title ahead of this year’s Championship and have been overwhelming favourites after they beat France in round two last month.
Though they’ll be cautious of peaking too early ahead of this year’s World Cup, they’ll go into the showpiece event as one of the fancied sides despite a record which has seen them lose every knockout game they’ve played at the quadrennial event.
“We’ll be playing against an English team that are hurting and one that we have huge respect for,” Sexton added. “The Irish people will get behind us next week, so we’re looking forward to that.”
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