Ireland 45 Scotland 12
Hard sell this. To start at the finish, Ireland place third in Six Nations table, the usual return from any season that includes trips to England and France, but as a sporting spectacle this was dire.
The 80 minutes seemed to last an eternity but at least it was better than the disjointed mess witnessed a week previously against Italy.
There are external, partly exonerating, factors worth mentioning.
Ireland coach Tom Tierney has a remit to build a squad for the World Cup on home soil in 18 months and took these last two outings - once any chance of defending the championship died with Twickenham inaccuracy - to blood several players not only unaccustomed to Test match rugby but rugby in general.
Many have been parachuted in from the Sevens programme which now becomes the main priority as Ireland still have a chance of reaching the Olympics in Rio this year if they scrap past Spain and Russia, or ideally one beats the other, to win June’s last chance qualifier in UCD.
“The style and shape was there against Italy and today, thankfully, we added the ball security,” said Tierney, who was capped eight times at scrumhalf for Ireland in 1999 and 2000. “We are trying to create a player base where we have variety and competition in all places but at the same time we always want to win. It’s that balancing act between new girls and senior players.”
That doesn’t include entertaining an enthusiastic, if dwindling, crowd for this lunch time kick-off. That’s not part of Tierney’s brief.
“It’s just about getting as good as we can be over the next 18 months.”
The next opportunity is huge progress in itself: the first ever November internationals against World Cup finalists England and Canada, again on Donnybrook’s 4G surface, along with a renewal of acquaintances with New Zealand. All three internationals are condensed into a fortnight so a steep learning curve is promised.
But for the next while all that matters is Sevens.
“We are capable of so much,” said Ali Miller after her hat-trick. “We are full time now with the Sevens programme. There is a huge emphasis on winning that tournament in June to qualify for Rio. The Olympic dream is still alive.”
There’s not much to report from this dead rubber, underneath rubber, which Ireland looked certain to win five minutes after the kick-off when Miller ran in her first try. Niamh Briggs landed that conversion in an otherwise poor return from the captain’s boot. Most shots were outside her range.
Not that it mattered. Scotland are a terrible defensive team that offer very little in attack or in terms of continuity.
Liz Burke ran in the second try after nine minutes following good work by Sene Naoupu and Briggs.
Naoupu, a former Black Ferns final trialist, was a class apart in terms of ball skills and awareness.
Ciara Griffin went over next after snappy passing by Larissa Muldoon and Briggs with the fourth try coming from Scotland’s inability to secure lineout ball in their own 22. Still, it was a nicely lofted cross kick by Nora Stapleton that allowed Briggs to catch and touch down.
A rare break out saw Scottish scrumhalf Jenny Maxwell catch Ireland cold with her try converted by hooker Lana Skeldon.
Miller had her second try a minute into the second half with Briggs holding pace with the Laois winger by crossing, albeit all too easily, in the 50th minute.
That made it 30-7 and allowed Tierney to unloosen a string of replacements. This at least brought the intimidating Sophie Spence into the game.
The Miller hat-trick kept the attendance of mostly young girls tuned-in after Naoupu ran a clever, pre-planned line off Stapleton before skipping Briggs to put the winger over.
By this stage Scotland were down to 13 women after two yellow cards for foul play. Ireland took ages to exploit the numerical advantage.
Spence finally gave the supporters something to cheer about when, in brutal fashion, she carried three Scots over the line after picking from a five metre scrum.
The Scottish restart failed to travel two metres never mind the necessary 10. Keeping with the game’s barely competitive nature, referee Sherry Trumbull gave her another go.
“Scotland, like us all, are learning the game,” Tierney kindly added.
Scoring sequence - 4 mins: A Miller try, 5-0; N Briggs con, 7-0; 9
mins: L Burke try, 12-0; 13 mins: C Griffin try, 17-0; 29 mins: N Briggs pen, 20-0; 32 mins: N Briggs try, 25-0; 34 mins: J Maxwell try, 25-5; L Skeldon con, 25-7. Half-time. 41 mins: A Miller try, 30-7; 49 mins: N Briggs try, 35-7; 62 mins: A Miller try, 40-7; 75 mins: S Spence try, 45-7; 79 mins: R Lloyd try, 45-12.
Ireland: N Briggs (capt); L Burke, C McLaughlin, S Naoupu, A Miller; N Stapleton, L Muldoon; R O'Reillly, Z Grattage, A Egan; E Anthony, C Cooney; C Griffin, C Molloy, P Fitzpatrick. Replacements: M Healy for L Muldoon, C Moloney for Z Grattage (both 50 mins), S Spence for P Fitzpatrick (57 mins), K Flood for N Stapleton, O Fitzsimons for E Anthony (both 64 mins), F Hayes for R O'Reilly, F Reidy for A Egan, A Donnelly for A Miller (all 71 mins).
Scotland: C Rollie; M Gaffney, L Thomson, L Martin (capt), R Lloyd; S Law, J Maxwell; H Lockhart, L Seldon, L Smith; E Wassell, D McCormack; J Forsyth, K Dunbar, J Konkel. Replacements: H Nelson for S Law, T Balmer for H Lockhart (both half-time), E Sinclair for C Rollie (64 mins), L Harris for M Gaffney (67 mins), S Quick for L Skeldon, F Sim for E Wassell, A Stodter for J Forsyth (all 77 minutes).
Referee: S Trumbull (Canada).
