Old Ireland and Farrell's potential new structures both on show in shaky win

As shakedown games go, this one ended up being a little more shaky than Ireland might have expected. The final score said 19-12 to Ireland but that didn’t really tell the story of the game so much as gesture vaguely in the direction of the side that took their chances with more efficiency, writes Tom Savage.

As shakedown games go, this one ended up being a little more shaky than Ireland might have expected. The final score said 19-12 to Ireland but that didn’t really tell the story of the game so much as gesture vaguely in the direction of the side that took their chances with more efficiency.

Make no mistake, Scotland showed up to play here. They were without Finn Russell but that barely mattered on a day when not many people could have complained if Scotland had come away with a win. Gregor Townsend seemed to learn the lessons of Yokohama and started the biggest bodies he could in his pack - front row, second row, and at #8 - and it paid off for Scotland almost immediately and throughout.