Only players can save Kidney

The linebreak from Sean O’Brien was all power, the phases that followed stretched Scotland to breaking point and when the home defence finally creaked, Irish patience in the build-up was rewarded by a clinical finish from Craig Gilroy.

It was textbook rugby from Ireland, perfectly prepared and ruthlessly executed against inferior opposition. Yet that try early in the second half stood in splendid isolation, the only five-pointer of an afternoon at Murrayfield that will long be remembered for the other 78 minutes of Irish profligacy, impatience and lack of joined-up thinking.

Ireland beat themselves on Sunday and saw their chances of a Six Nations championship disappear in a 12-8 defeat to a limited Scotland side that could scarcely believe its luck to have emerged victorious from a game to which they had barely contributed.