Ireland got back to winning ways following last week’s defeat to England with a scrappy 22-13 win over Scotland in Murrayfield on Saturday.
FULL TIME: Scotland 13-22 IRELAND#TeamOfUs #SCOvIRE #ShoulderToShoulder pic.twitter.com/xJiKQTeyNk
— Irish Rugby (@IrishRugby) February 9, 2025
With both teams making forced changes pre-game Scotland started the better, and their early pressure paid off with Greig Laidlaw slotting over a fifth minute penalty to put them in front.
However, Ireland responded brilliantly, putting pressure on the Scots before shipping the ball out wide to Jacob Stockdale who raced away in the middle of the park.
Stockdale showed a lot of intelligence by kicking the ball ahead into the Scottish 22. Tommy Seymour and Sean Maitland got their wires crossed from the kick and allowed Conor Murray to pick up a loose ball and score the opening try of the game.
Sexton missed the conversion leaving the score at 5-3 in Ireland’s favour after 10 minutes.
Scotland were dealt a huge blow in the 16th minute as star full-back Stuart Hogg was forced off, with last weekend’s hat-trick hero Blair Kinghorn coming on.
A minute later and Ireland were in for their second try.
Some incredible play near halfway allowed Peter O’Mahony to switch play with Sexton with Sexton then releasing Stockdale, who had come in from his wing, and has showed immense pace to race under the posts and touch down.
The conversion was easy for Sexton who stretched Ireland’s lead to 12-3.
Stockdale brushed aside comments from Luke Fitzgerald during the week, claiming his defending was poor by saving Ireland with a couple of covering catches and outstanding tackles over the next few minutes.
Ireland faced their own injury setback as Sexton was forced off after 23 minutes to be replaced by Joey Carbery.
It was a risky pass by Carbery that allowed Finn Russell to intercept near halfway and race toward the Irish line on 29 minutes.
Keith Earls made a great recovering tackle but Carbery lost track of Sam Johnson, who received a clever pop pass from Russell on the floor and was in for a try.
Laidlaw sent over the conversion from the right touchline to make it 10-12 and that was how it stayed until half-time.
HALF TIME: Scotland 10-12 IRELAND#TeamOfUs #SCOvIRE #ShoulderToShoulder pic.twitter.com/TgjF4jsvXT
— Irish Rugby (@IrishRugby) February 9, 2025
The second-half opened with a few scrappy pieces of play from both sides.
It took until the 55th minute for another score to come. Following a line-out for the visitors near the centre of the park, a misplaced pass from Sean O’Brien was picked up by Carbery.
From there Carbery showed his class by breaking through two Scottish players before ploughing into the 22 and sending the ball out wide to Earls who was in for an easy try.
Carbery sent the conversion over to leave the score at 19-10.
Greig Laidlaw brought Scotland within six points by sending over a lovely penalty from the left touch line on 62 minutes.
Carbery returned the favour with 12 minutes later slotting over a three pointer to give the visitors with a 22-13 lead.
That was how it stayed as Ireland failed to secure the bonus-point but got their first win of the campaign and showed some guts to grind out the victory.
Speaking after the game man of the match Peter O’Mahony spoke of his delight with the win following last weekend’s defeat.
“It says a lot about our character. I’m very proud of the boys today,” he said.
While head coach Joe Schmidt was happy with
the win, he admitted his Irish team was missing something.
“We were lacking a tempo in our game, not quite hitting our rhythm,” he said.
“We’ve got to be better,” he added.
Schmidt also confirmed that fly-half Sexton
failed a HIA assessment, hence he didn’t return to the action, which will be a
worry for Ireland as they already have a growing injury list.
Scotland head to France in two weeks’ time and will be looking to get back to winning ways, while Ireland will be hoping to build on this victory when they head to Italy.
Match Highlights:
