Stuart Hogg & Co lose battle of wills against Ireland

If they play with the inaccuracy and indiscipline they displayed in the remaining 50, they will continue to lose games that looked to be there for the taking.

Duncan Taylor’s yellow card just past the half-hour was the pivotal moment of this Autumn Nations Cup third-place play-off. Before it, Scotland were brighter, more eager, more inventive. After it, Ireland quickly gained the upper hand and refused to relinquish it thereafter.

It did not have to be like that. Yes, the Irish made the extra man count, going from 9-3 down to 11-9 up at the break.

But Scotland played almost the whole of the second half with 15 men, and began that half with renewed vigour, only to be gradually overpowered.

They conceded too many penalties and turnovers, and ended up second best by some distance. There is no doubt they have made significant progress this year, but this final Test of 2020 was a painful reminder of how far they still have to go.

Gregor Townsend’s team had been forced into a late change on the bench when hooker Stuart McInally returned home to attend the birth of his first child and was replaced by George Turner, but there was no sign early on in the match that the alteration had had a disruptive effect.

In essence, the opening quarter-hour was a tale of three penalties. Jonny Sexton was wide with the first scoring chance of the game, then Jaco van der Walt crashed a long-range effort off the post. Given a second chance from closer in, however, the debutant stand-off made no mistake to put his team in front.

It was a deserved advantage, reflecting Scotland’s greater enterprise, with captain Stuart Hogg, in particular, displaying an urge to counter-attack whenever an opening presented itself. Hogg’s team-mates up front looked just as sharp, and when they won a scrum penalty, Van der Walt doubled his team’s lead right at the midway point of the half.

Sexton soon halved that advantage with his own second attempt at goal, but another impressive venture from the visitors saw Ireland offend within their own 22, allowing Van der Walt to stretch the lead back out to 9-3. The Scotland 10’s boot was accurate in the loose, too, as he showed with a superb kick deep into Irish territory after an attack by the home side had broken down.

That position produced nothing, and Ireland were quickly back on the front foot. With advantage being played, they had a big overlap on the left when Taylor managed to knock on as Bundee Aki tried to get a pass away. The professional foul had probably denied Ireland a try, and referee Matthew Carley showed the centre a yellow card, leaving Scotland a

man down for the rest of the half.

Sexton scored from the penalty, and his team wasted little time in making the extra man count. With advantage again being played inside the Scotland 22, Sexton lobbed a bomb into in-goal. Robbie Henshaw out leapt Darcy Graham, but when the Scotland winger got a touch, the ball spilled free, and Keith Earls beat Ali Price in the race to touch down. Sexton missed the conversion, but the try was enough to give Ireland an 11-9 lead at the break despite their having been on the back foot for the bulk of the half.

Having been sluggish in the first half, the home side began the second in far sharper fashion and quickly

stretched their lead to 18-9.

A knock-on by Hogg gave them good position, and after Caelan Doris had come close, Cian Healy was bundled over close to the posts, leaving Sexton with a simple conversion.

With Scotland’s penalty count growing, Ireland struck again minutes later. A solid line-out on the left led to a powerful barge through midfield by Jacob Stockdale, and when the ball was recycled back to whence it had come, Earls squeezed in at the corner after swift hands by Peter O’Mahony.

Sexton converted, and that two-point half-time lead was now 25-9 just past the 50-minute mark.

Scotland had to score next to have any chance, and they did, when Duhan van der Merwe gathered from the bottom of a ruck and raced in for a try which Van der Walt converted. But that was an isolated instance of brilliance, and the rest of the match was firmly under Ireland’s control.

Substitute Ross Byrne made it 28-16 with a penalty after Fraser Brown had needlessly offended off the ball, then Peter O’Mahony thought he had scored in the right corner only to see it chalked off for a foot in touch.

Ireland had been playing advantage at that point, however, so back we went

for another penalty, from which Byrne completed the scoring.

Scorers. Ireland. Tries Earls 2, Healy. Cons Sexton 2. Pens Sexton 2, Byrne 2.

Scotland. Try Van der Merwe. Con: van der Walt. Pens: Van der Walt 3.

Ireland J Stockdale; H Keenan, B Aki, R Henshaw (C Farrell 79), K Earls; J Sexton (captain) (R Byrne 64), C Murray (J Gibson-Park 79); C Healy (E O’Sullivan 66), R Herring (R Kelleher 66), A Porter (John Ryan 75), I Henderson (Q Roux 39), James Ryan, C Stander, P O’Mahony, C Doris (J van der Flier 66).

Scotland S Hogg (captain); D Graham (S Maitland 57), C Harris, D Taylor (H Jones 64), D van der Merwe; J van der Walt, A Price (S Hidalgo-Clyne 74); R Sutherland (O Kebble 64), F Brown (G Turner 68), Z Fagerson (W Nel 68), S Cummings (S Skinner 74), J Gray, B Thomson, J Ritchie (B Cowan 68), M Fagerson.

Referee M Carley (England).