Scotland 18 Ireland 19:The Scottish lament post-match, was that by the end Ireland "were there for the taking". If only in the sense that Scotland had somehow contrived to lead 18-13 with 15 minutes remaining, Frank Hadden's point had a certain validity. But far more pertinent was the abiding feeling that Scotland were unquestionably there for the taking and although Ireland beat them they didn't really take them.
Even though nothing about the occasion, from the BBC-decreed 1.30 kick-off in accommodating a Middlesbrough-Man United FA Cup tie, to the almost desultory pre-match "anthems", bore the remotest resemblance to that day of days, both sides continued where they left off two weeks before.
Whereas the Scots were purely reactive and porous in the first 15 minutes, with Gordon D'Arcy and Paul O'Connell cutting the blue line to shreds, Ireland made all the running and created three clear chances. Had they converted any of them, the best of them when a stretching Girvan Dempsey couldn't gather Ronan O'Gara's floated pass and put Denis Hickie over, they might well have gone on to win comfortably.
The main reason Ireland didn't was because such lack of accuracy (the official stats credited Ireland with 18 errors) frequently undid their hard work and as the Scots stuck to them like a dog to a bone, the errors became more frequent under pressure.
To their credit, Ireland kept their nerve to pull through a crisis in large part of their own making. The likes of O'Connell and Brian O'Driscoll took on more responsibility and led from the front, and Ronan O'Gara nervelessly kicked two penalties to complete his 19-point haul and steer Ireland home.
It would have been close to an injustice if Ireland hadn't won. All the bald statistics of the match reaffirm the undeniable impression that one team was attempting to play rugby - and that team was wearing green.
Ireland had a near 60-40 split of both the possession and the territory.
Despite having far less ball, Scotland kicked almost 25 per cent of their possession, whereas Ireland kicked only eight per cent of theirs and therefore had almost twice as many throw-ins (17 to nine).
Ireland also completed about twice as many passes, 153 to 83, made six clean line breaks (though it seemed like more) to just one by Scotland and obliged Scotland to make 108 tackles to their 70 - again even that scarcely tallies with the impression of the match.
Yet despite one team attempting to play so much more rugby, with the Scots continually slowing down Irish ruck ball, often seeming to push up ahead of the hindmost foot and regularly running lazy trailers, the debutant Six Nations referee, Dave Pearson of England, came up with a mere 10-8 penalty count in Ireland's favour.
From their only three forays upfield in possession during the first period, the Scots came away with nine points. So the pattern continued in the second, so that at one point the Scots had five penalties from five attacking excursions and later led 18-13 with six penalties from seven visits.
Even if O'Driscoll was offside for the first Chris Paterson three-pointer, it seems highly selective that the Scots were never once penalised for the same offence. When Pearson penalised John Hayes for collapsing an Irish scrum on their own line, even before Peter Stringer's put-in and when both front rows appeared to go down in tandem, suffice to say many a referee would surely have just decided on resetting the scrum.
When Simon Easterby was penalised for not rolling away for Paterson's third three-pointer on the stroke of half-time, it was physically impossible for him to do so, though at least Pearson was regularly penalising the Scots for this offence. Given this, it was negligent of Pearson to wait until the 43rd minute to finally bin one of their number, Nathan Hines, for a rather blatant example of loitering on the ground after making a tackle.
The Scots played as if they had a licence to spoil, and were very nearly rewarded for it.
Ultimately, they brought Ireland down to their level and made it into a scrap, and have now hosted easily the two worst games of the championship - the tryless visit of Wales here in round two being the other. They take little or no risks on the ball, and are as happy to kick it away.
The Scots are unlucky to be without their big-game hunter Jason White, and Rob Dewey will surely adapt more to Test rugby if he can remain relatively injury-free, but as long as Dan Parks is their outhalf and Chris Paterson one of their wingers, it's hard to see how that will change.
The return of Parks undoubtedly improved their tactical kicking, and there was his touchfinding in the second half, especially from restarts, but he has little or no running threat.
It's probably too late in his career to attempt reconverting Paterson into a Test outhalf for a fourth time, but while he is a quick number 10 - witness his try as first receiver against Italy - he is a slow winger, as evidenced when Denis Hickie caught him from behind and brilliantly got to his feet to earn a turnover penalty when a speedster would probably have punished one of countless Irish turnovers with a seven-pointer.
That's their problem. Despite this scare, Ireland possess an infinitely better all-round team, although it seems remarkable they can't make more use of their bench. Once again, only Jerry Flannery and Neil Best are regarded as a potential source of fresh legs; the remainder - in the absence of Isaac Boss - are there purely to provide cover in case of injury.
Ireland have a good team, capable on their day at full-strength of beating anyone, with the possible exception of the All Blacks. More than anything though, Ireland need to reach the same mental and emotional intensity for two games running if those days are to be backed up.
SCORING SEQUENCE: 9 mins: O'Gara pen 0-3; 17: Paterson pen 3-3; 30: O'Gara try, con 3-10; 35: Paterson pen 6-10; 38: O'Gara pen 6-13; 40: Paterson pen 9-13; (half-time 9-13); 51: Paterson pen 12-13; 61: Paterson pen 15-13; 64: Paterson pen 18-13; 67: O'Gara pen 18-16; 70: O'Gara pen 18-19.
SCOTLAND: H Southwell (Edinburgh Rugby); S Lamont (Northampton Saints), M Di Rollo (Edinburgh Rugby), R Dewey (Edinburgh Rugby), C Paterson (Edinburgh Rugby, capt); D Parks (Glasgow Rugby), C Cusiter (Border Reivers); G Kerr (Border Reivers), D Hall (Edinburgh Rugby), E Murray (Glasgow Warriors); N Hines (Perpignan), S Murray (Edinburgh Rugby); S Taylor (Edinburgh Rugby), K Brown (Border Reivers), D Callam (Edinburgh Rugby). Replacements: R Lamont (Glasgow Warriors) for Southwell (41 mins); A Hogg (Edinburgh Rugby) for Callam (54 mins); R Lawson (Gloucester) for Cusiter (58 mins); R Ford (Border Reivers) for Hall, A Jacobsen (Edinburgh Rugby) for Kerr (both 61 mins); A Henderson (Glasgow Warriors) for Di Rollo (65 mins); J Hamilton (Leicester Tigers) for Murray (78 mins). Sinbinned: Hines (43-53 mins).
IRELAND: G Dempsey (Leinster); S Horgan (Leinster), B O'Driscoll (Leinster, capt), G D'Arcy (Leinster), D Hickie (Leinster); R O'Gara (Munster), P Stringer (Munster); S Best (Ulster), R Best (Ulster), J Hayes (Munster); D O'Callaghan (Munster), P O'Connell (Munster); S Easterby (Llanelli), D Wallace (Munster), D Leamy (Munster). Replacements: J Flannery (Munster) for R Best (61 mins); N Best (Ulster) for Easterby (68 mins). Subs not used: B Young (Ulster), M O'Driscoll (Munster), E Reddan (London Wasps), P Wallace (Ulster), A Trimble (Ulster).
Referee: D Pearson (England).
