Pressure mounts after a dark day for Irish rugby

Scotland 12 Ireland 8

You know something has gone badly wrong when the winning side cannot believe their good fortune. The grins on Scottish faces after this charmed victory over a badly misfiring Ireland side told everything.

The match statistics tell you that Ireland enjoyed a staggering 71 per cent of possession and 77 per cent of the territory and yet still managed to slump to a second defeat in a row in the Six Nations for the first time in Declan Kidney’s reign.

The last time Ireland had lost back-to-back, against Wales at Croke Park and away to England in 2008, it marked the end of Eddie O’Sullivan’s tenure as head coach.

A third loss in succession for the current incumbent, against France on March 9, will could well mean it will be the last time Kidney, out of contract with the IRFU this summer, will preside over a championship campaign.

The high level of absentees through injuries will be used in mitigation but those will not absolve anyone from blame after Ireland butchered a string of try-scoring opportunities, missed the posts with a succession of place kicks and spurned further shots at goal in favour of the corners against a decidedly average Scotland side that can still dream of the Six Nations title.

Meanwhile, Ireland play out the campaign with saving face their only objective.

Nor will having lost their last two games by six and four points respectively present any consolation, rather highlighting the failure to capitalise on an opposition sin-binning and then throwing away match-winning positions.

Ireland had failed to get the basics right in the home loss to England when the ball was their enemy in the rainy conditions and the visitors were cuter and cannier.

Yesterday, they had so much of it that it exposed their lack of killer instinct, Craig Gilroy’s skilful pivot to get over the line in the 44th minute the only try of a game that should have seen many more, all of them from Ireland.

Scotland never remotely looked liked breaching the Irish line and went in at the break just 3-0 down, debutant fly-half Paddy Jackson having skewed his first shot at goal wide from the right touchline after the home side had been reduced to 14 men following a yellow card for prop Ryan Grant, before the Ulster man slotted his second attempt in the 35th minute.

In the interim, Ireland had failed to make decent use of their dominance, both against 14 and the full complement, their adventure in kicking for touch let down by a malfunctioning lineout that coughed up ball four times and linebreaks from impressive debutant Luke Marshall and Keith Earls thwarted by strong defence.

Gilroy’s try looked to have Ireland up and running just after the interval but it proved a false dawn, Jackson hitting an upright with the conversion as well as another penalty before making way for Ronan O’Gara in the 65th minute.

Jackson (21) had equipped himself reasonably well but one successful kick from four left eight points on the table that Ireland could have sorely used.

Shame that O’Gara couldn’t rescue Jackson and Ireland’s performance. Denied any kicking opportunities in the 25 minutes he had on the field, as Scotland clawed their way back into the contest with three penalties from scrum-half Greig Laidlaw, the Munster veteran alas failed to prove Kidney’s selection decision wrong.

It was an ill-judged crossfield kick that put Ireland, 9-8 down, onto the back foot with eight minutes to go. The ball bounced off a Scottish knee, forcing Luke Marshall, Brian O’Driscoll and then, after O’Gara had failed to find touch, David Kilcoyne to desperately scramble for possession, with the latter straying offside to concede the penalty that sent Scotland 12-8 in front.

There was still time to rescue victory as O’Gara kicked a penalty to the corner, giving Ireland a five-metre lineout. Ball won, Ireland went through the phases only for Rob Kearney to run into Mike Ross and concede a scrum. With the clock ticking towards 80 minutes, the Scots celebrated more good fortune, only for referee Wayne Barnes to award a penalty to Ireland and put them back on tenterhooks. Again, Ireland failed to make the most of the opportunity, Luke Marshall putting down an O’Gara pass to end the game and give the Scots their first back-to-back Six Nations win since 2001, the last time they beat the Irish in the championship.

Frustrating didn’t do it justice.

SCOTLAND: S Hogg; S Maitland, S Lamont, M Scott, T Visser; R Jackson (D Weir, 60), G Laidlaw; R Grant, R Ford (D Hall, 46), G Cross (M Low, 76); R Gray, J Hamilton (A Kellock, 72); R Harley (M Low, 19-26), K Brown (capt), D Denton, 46-51), J Beattie (D Denton, 72).

IRELAND: R Kearney; C Gilroy (L Fitzgerald, 60), B O’Driscoll, L Marshall, K Earls; P Jackson (R O’Gara, 65), C Murray (E Reddan, 70); T Court (D Kilcoyne, 56), R Best, M Ross; D O’Callaghan (D Toner, 72), D Ryan; P O’Mahony, S O’Brien, J Heaslip (capt).

Referee: W Barnes (England).