Spence leads the rout

Ireland 50 Scotland 0

In their first piece of competitive action since their gutsy 6-3 triumph over Italy last March (which helped seal their ground-breaking Grand Slam success), Philip Doyle’s outfit started with ferocious intent, and after a lengthy spell of pressure inside the Scotland ‘22’, it was no surprise to see them breaking the deadlock with little over three minutes gone in the contest.

Old Belvedere lock Spence touched down in the left-corner on this occasion, and just six minutes later, left-wing Alison Miller joined her on the scoresheet when a fine lay-off by centre Lynne Cantwell created space for the Portlaoise star to cross over towards the right-hand side.