O’Leary and Earls further their education

CLINICAL was the word Warren Gatland used to describe Ireland’s performance at Croke Park on Saturday and it could hardly have been more appropriate.

Ireland did what they needed to do to keep their hopes of a fifth Triple Crown in seven years very much alive without ever having to play above themselves. And now it would take an upset of major proportions to prevent coach Declan Kidney walking off with his second major trophy in two years with all known form suggesting that Scotland – in spite of all the times they have upset the Irish in the past – coming to Croke Park on a hiding to nothing.

For the second game in a row, Ireland won by scoring three tries to nothing which suggests they have become quite adept at taking their chances and extremely proficient at keeping their own line intact. That was never more apparent than at Twickenham a fortnight previously and manifested itself again during a tense and crucial seven-minute spell shortly after half-time on Saturday. 16-6 behind at the time, Wales scorned three points in search of seven that might well have brought them back into the game. They twice opted for scrums in the hope of receiving a penalty try from referee Craig Joubert and with good reason, too, given that the South African didn’t like much of what Ireland were doing with the penalty count against them as much as 16-10.