Ireland 15 Scotland 9: Played in a downpour, the atmosphere in Lansdowne Road having been cranked up for a change, a tryless game settled by penalties, culminating in a scoreless last 33 minutes! Sure what better way to bid an all too fond farewell to the old place as a Six Nations venue? Ireland huffed and puffed mightily. For sheer honesty of effort, and significantly over the full 80 minutes, this was arguably the best performance of the campaign to date.
On the twin pillars of a brilliant lineout effort, which all but obliterated the Scottish throw, and a masterful kicking game from Ronan O'Gara especially, along with the back three and Peter Stringer, Ireland encamped in Scottish territory but, in another blast from the past, they couldn't quite break those cussed Scots.
The Scots brought little to the party except their now famed defence and a kicking game. The match stats credited them with 102 tackles, and a surprisingly high tally of 14 missed tackles, but one ventures the real total, as totted up by themselves, will be at least 50 per cent more than that, with flanker Ally Hogg simply hoovering up Irish ball carriers.
They were tackles for tackles' sake though, with Jason White, true to type, putting in some thunderous hits. He and Hogg held the thick blue line together, never better exemplified than when they withheld a multi-phase Irish siege in the prelude to O'Gara eventually landing his fourth penalty for the most hard-earned of 12-9 interval leads.
Given the accuracy of his darts in an unblemished haul of 13 Irish throws, and his trademark imitation of a dervish on duracell, Jerry Flannery would have been a prime candidate for man of the match. So too David Wallace. The honour went to Paul O'Connell
As important as any of the big plays in the match, as much for its psychological import, was Wallace's big hit, helped by O'Gara driving in, on Andrew Henderson when Scotland's limited backs laboriously took up the game's first lineout. That Ireland at last began a game with the kind of intensity they were looking for was largely down to that moment, and led to the opening three-pointer from O'Gara.
As important psychologically perhaps, was the sight of White groggily bouncing off Wallace with his first attempted big hit. Later, O'Gara having pushed Ireland 15-9 in front, the Irish game's most dynamic forward for the last few years came up with the day's outstanding forward rumble off the restart, thereby ensuring that the flow of psychic energy remained with Ireland.
O'Connell, as you'd expect, had a big game but Malcolm O'Kelly's was arguably even bigger; the former full of muscular intent, the latter eager for work and to get his mitts on the ball, while elevated by the human JCB that is John Hayes, they and Simon Easterby ruled the air athletically.
In truth it would be hard to criticise any of the Irish forwards, Simon Easterby's honest toil revelling in the nature of the contest as well as aiding that aerial supremacy. Denis Leamy is still learning the ropes of number eight play, and like Flannery brings a youthful infusion of that Munster dog and competitiveness to the fray, but his punishing number of ball carriers would reap an even bigger dividend if he improved his footwork and became more selective about the pick-and-go drives off rucks.
Stringer, another Munster dog fiendishly looking to join in the scrap, has rarely looked more pumped up and maintained his good form, while O'Gara's line-kicking and place-kicking were superb. In the second half, Ireland spent 34 of the 46 minutes in Scottish territory. Though some of his wristy, flat skip passes were on the money, some weren't and perhaps it was understandable on the day that was in it, but O'Gara looked happier kicking than passing.
Andrew Trimble still cannot be really judged as an attacking Test winger, which is no fault of his own, and though wonderfully assured at the back, Geordan Murphy still isn't playing to the maximum of his ability - which admittedly would be nearly impossible to do every week.
But, for example, the straight run and routine try-scoring pass to Trimble which the winger had to clutch off his bootlaces would be meat and drink to Murphy in a Leicester jersey.
Ireland aren't the first team, and probably won't be the last, who couldn't breach the Scottish try-line. But they could have done with more invention, and for all the arguments about the rain, one only has to think back to the All Blacks' 21-3 win in the first Test in Christchurch to put that in context.
Given they were always within a score, there remained an underlying fear that the Scots might pilfer a late win with the help of a mistake or a freakish bounce of the ball, a sort of time-honoured tradition of its own in this fixture, all the more so when they appeared to be freshened by Frank Hadden utilising five of his replacements. "We are a squad of 22, the bench isn't a decoration," ventured the Scottish coach. Leaving six of his bench with splinters again, Eddie O'Sullivan wouldn't exactly be a disciple of this theory.
It would be interesting to see what would happen if anyone could pull a couple of scores ahead of the Scots. Obliged to chase a game, or at any rate make something happen with the ball, one imagines their limitations would become more exposed then.
For all the crowd's anxiousness toward the end, there never seemed the remotest possibility of the Scots opening up the Irish defence and stealing the match, least of all from deep. For all their magnificent effort, forward grunt, possession and territory, Ireland weren't good enough to put that kind of daylight between the sides. But on a murky day, there was never much chance of Ireland losing their way.
Scoring sequence: 3 mins: O'Gara pen 3-0; 9: O'Gara pen 6-0; 11: Paterson pen 6-3; 17: Paterson pen 6-6; 24: O'Gara pen 9-6; 27: Paterson pen 9-9; 38: O'Gara pen 12-9 (half-time 12-9); 56: O'Gara pen 15-9.
IRELAND: G Murphy (Leicester); S Horgan (Leinster), B O'Driscoll (Leinster, capt), G D'Arcy (Leinster), A Trimble (Ulster); R O'Gara (Munster), P Stringer (Munster); M Horan (Munster), J Flannery (Munster), J Hayes (Munster); M O'Kelly (Leinster), P O'Connell (Munster); S Easterby (Llanelli), D Wallace (Munster), D Leamy (Munster). Replacements: D O'Callaghan (Munster) for O'Connell (66 mins). Unused: R Best (Ulster), S Best (Ulster), M O'Driscoll (Munster), E Reddan (Wasps), D Humphreys (Ulster), G Dempsey (Leinster).
SCOTLAND: H Southwell (Edinburgh Gunners); C Paterson (Edinburgh Gunners), M Di Rollo (Edinburgh Gunners), A Henderson (Glasgow Warriors), S Lamont (Northampton Saints); D Parks (Glasgow Warriors), M Blair (Edinburgh Gunners); G Kerr (Leeds Tykes), D Hall (Edinburgh Gunners), B Douglas (Border Reivers); N Hines (Perpignan), S Murray (Edinburgh Gunners); J White (Sale Sharks, cap), S Taylor (Edinburgh Gunners), A Hogg (Edinburgh Gunners). Replacements: C Smith (Edinburgh Gunners) for Douglas (57-62 and 72 mins), C Cusiter (Border Reivers) for Blair, G Ross (Leeds Tykes) for Parks (both 58 mins), S Webster (Edinburgh Gunners) for Paterson (69 mins), J Petrie (Glasgow Warriors) for White (72 mins). Not used: S Lawson (Glasgow Warriors), A Kellock (Edinburgh Gunners).
Referee: Stuart Dickinson (Australia).
