Ireland win Triple Crown

Ireland 37 Scotland 16

Two-try Gordon D’Arcy led the way as Ireland swept aside defiant Scotland with a second-half flourish which clinched a Triple Crown triumph at Lansdowne Road.

Scotland, who trailed 16-9 at half-time, were level eight minutes into the second half with a try from flanker Allister Hogg converted by Chris Paterson.

But the Irish moved up a gear in response and tries from David Wallace, Peter Stringer and man of the match D’Arcy secured an emphatic victory for Ireland and condemned Scotland to the wooden spoon.

D’Arcy and Geordan Murphy had claimed the first-half tries which enabled Ireland to build a seven-point half-time lead.

Two Paterson penalties and a Dan Parks drop-goal had kept Scotland in with a chance and Hogg’s converted try raised hopes of an upset.

But Ireland were in no mood to let a Triple Crown slip from their grasp and three tries in 20 second-half minutes did the trick.

Skippered by Brian O’Driscoll, who was winning his 50th cap, Ireland needed to beat the Scots by at least 50 points to have any chance of winning the championship.

They never looked like doing so as Matt Williams’ men made them work hard for their win but the Irish were still celebrating at the final whistle with a Triple Crown in their grasp.

Chris Paterson, switched from fly-half to full-back, and Ronan O’Gara struck early penalties before Ireland took charge with a Gordon D’Arcy try in the 19th minute.

Girvan Dempsey and Shane Horgan combined and when the latter was tackled D’Arcy was on his shoulder to take the final pass and burst over. O’Gara failed with the conversion but Ireland led 8-3.

Paterson and O’Gara exchanged penalties before a Dan Parks drop-goal cut Ireland’s lead to 11-9.

But Ireland struck back with a minute of the half to go, winning a scrum close to the Scots’ line and feeding the ball left to O’Driscoll whose bullet pass found an unmarked Murphy who claimed his 11th international try to give the Irish a 16-9 lead at the interval.

Scotland fought back at the start of the second half and were level within eight minutes, flanker Hogg diving over for his first international try after great work from the Scottish pack and Paterson converting.

But five minutes later Ireland regained the initiative, David Wallace capping a spell of Irish pressure breaking out of a tackle to force himself over and O’Gara landing the conversion to establish a 23-16 lead.

And there looked to be no way back for the Scots when scrum-half Peter Stringer darted over for a try after prop John Hayes had sucked in the Scottish defence. O’Gara made no mistake with the conversion and Ireland were 30-16 ahead.

D’Arcy underlined Irish superiority with his second try after combining with Murphy to carve open the Scottish defence. O’Gara’s conversion made it 37-16.