SCOTLAND 26 IRELAND 19
BY RICHARD BULLICK
THE losing bonus point made mathematically certain of third place in the Six Nations table without having to wait for Italy’s result against Wales on Sunday, but that was scant consolation on a nightmare afternoon for Ireland in Edinburgh.
Ireland’s stated objective of three away wins in this campaign was slipping away with the scores level at 19-19, but there was still one last twist with the clock red as Scotland snatched a dramatic victory courtesy of a try in the left corner, converted for good measure.
Scott Bemand’s side had also conceded from the final play of the opening period at Hive Stadium after a clearance from Dannah O’Brien failed to find touch, meaning they trailed 12-7 at the break despite having dominated that first half.
The injury-ravaged women in green got back level twice in the second half of this absorbing battle but kept making mistakes and, in the end, the much more experienced Scotland capitalised with that winning try by winger Francesca McGhie.
The whistle went as the touchline kick from Helen Nelson – just back on the field after a sinbinning – split the Irish posts, but this disappointing defeat seems unlikely to be the most damaging outcome from this ill-fated fixture.
On an afternoon when no fewer than three Ireland players had to go for head injury assessments before half-time, the visitors lost influential forward Dorothy Wall to what looked like a very serious injury just 18 minutes in.
Tipperary woman Wall, who was shifted to her old role of blindside flanker for this match as part of a reshuffle forced by the absence of Ireland’s taliswoman Aoife Wafer due to injury, worryingly went down with nobody near her.
The nature of her injury hadn’t been confirmed at time of writing but it was reminiscent of another Ireland lock Eimear Corri going down with an achilles rupture just after half time in the interpro final at the end of last August.
If Wall, who has been such a powerful force in this Six Nations, has suffered a similar fate, she would join World Breakthrough Player of the Year Erin King in being ruled out of this summer’s World Cup, leaving Ireland shorn of two wonderful frontline forwards.
Unlike skipper Edel McMahon and centre Enya Breen, prop Niamh O’Dowd was able to return after her concussion test, though she was later in a lot of pain after a blow to the shoulder which had kept her out of the victory over Wales the previous Sunday.
It will also be hoped that the teak-tough Aoife Dalton hasn’t done real damage to her ankle by bravely playing on with it heavily strapped after a nasty twist which would have had viewers wincing with agony never mind the player herself.
When Ireland’s men achieved the Grand Slam two years ago, they managed to cope with real adversity in Edinburgh, when a hooker double whammy necessitated prop Cian Healy to pack down in the middle of the front row and flanker Josh van der Flier throw into the lineout.
Their head coach Andy Farrell said afterwards that getting through such setbacks should stand to his team moving forward, but Bemand will rue the perfect storm which conspired against the Ireland women at the weekend.
There were some positives for Ireland, notably surprise inclusion Aoife Corey’s encouragingly assured debut at fullback before switching to the wing to accommodate regular last line of defence Stacey Flood coming on in the second half.
Another was Ireland’s dominance at the scrum with their entire replacement front row – including young Ulster prop Sadhbh McGrath – on the field and that set-piece power paved the way for Emily Lane’s sharply-taken try which O’Brien converted to make it 19-19.
Young lock Ruth Campbell carried relentlessly in the course of a big shift and Ulster’s Brittany Hogan – Player of the Match against Scotland last year – did her best to anchor a badly depleted back row with a typically power-packed display.
The first half loss of Wall and McMahon meant Ulsterwoman Claire Boles and new cap Jane Clohessy – daughter of legendary Ireland prop Peter – entered the fray much earlier than would have been expected in normal circumstances.
Ireland drew first blood with a nice try on 10 minutes courtesy of wing wizard Amee-Leigh Murphy-Crowe on her 30th birthday after a brilliant blindside break by scrumhalf Molly Scuffil-McCabe off turnover ball won by Breen.
O’Brien added a magnificent conversion from the more difficult left touchline for a left-footed kicker and dominant Ireland were well worth their seven-point lead but, not helped by those injuries, they couldn’t kick on like against Italy and Wales.
This was a sweet revenge victory for ferocious Scotland, who had been pipped at the post on their last couple of trips to Ireland either side of a resounding 36-10 triumph in the corresponding game at Hive Stadium two years ago.
They came into this match desperate to atone for losing their last home match against Italy and determined to put a dent in the impressive progress made by Bemand’s Ireland over the past 12 months or so.
An unconverted try gave Scotland the energy and foundation from which to grab an interval lead against the run of play and, although Linda Djougang’s try brought Ireland level, the hosts went ahead again twice in the second half.
It was an incredibly busy afternoon for Dalton as she played through the pain barrier, beating more defenders than anyone in the Ireland team but also conceding most turnovers – mainly through knock-ons of unsympathetic passes – and unusually missing a couple of tackles.
Ahead of turning 22 this weekend, Dalton is only of only two Irish players along with Murphy-Crowe to have been on the field for every minute of this Six Nations campaign having been left unused on the bench for the only time in her career last April against Scotland.
Given an opportunity in place of Parma hat-trick hero Anna McGann, Wicklow winger Vicky Elmes-Kinlan had a mixed afternoon on her first Six Nations start, making ground with ball in hand but spilling several kicks in contrast to Corey.
She was called ashore just seven minutes into the second period and, with Beibhinn Parsons set to return to fitness soon and teenager Katie Corrigan surely in the mix, Elmes-Kinlan’s World Cup squad spot would appear far from assured.
Wolfhounds skipper Boles did her cause no harm but, even if Wafer’s knee problem proves of little long-term concern, Bemand’s slate of back five forwards would be weakened badly by the loss of Wall on top of King.
Player of the Match Rachel McLachlan led the way with an astonishing 29 tackles for Scotland, a figure which illustrates the extent to which Ireland dominated possession but ultimately the visitors couldn’t make that ascendancy count on the scoreboard.
This patchy performance and frustrating result, never mind the injury to Wall, will somewhat spoil Ireland’s relatively brief break now before the squad reassemble at the start of June to commence World Cup preparations.
It certainly wasn’t the way Ireland wanted to round off a great season which began with a comprehensive victory over Australia followed by the famous upset of world champions New Zealand, and has also brought that 54-12 rout of Italy and big away win against Wales.
So much conspired against Ireland on the day in Edinburgh but they were also authors of their own downfall with too many errors and a failure to secure scoreboard reward or capitalise properly on two opposition sinbins.
The injury blows were a problem but the stats suggest favourites Ireland – who gained 614 metres to Scotland’s 202 and had to make just 85 tackles compared to 232 by their hosts – should still have won.
Ireland gave away just five penalties all afternoon but that low number is partly a reflection of how little defending the visiting team had to do against a Scottish side which found itself living on relative scraps in terms of their share of possession.
Tears pouring down one of the home forward’s faces during a rousing rendition of Flower of Scotland set the scene for a typically passionate encounter and, despite O’Dowd having to go off for her check eight minutes in, Ireland took the lead shortly afterwards.
An unconvincing Kiwi referee let Scotland away with high-tackling the diminutive Dalton at least twice, but O’Dowd had just returned to the field when disaster struck with those disturbing scenes featuring Wall who was carted off in evident distress and devastation.
Ireland lost captain McMahon within three minutes of fellow flanker Wall and Scotland soon struck for their first try, hooker Lana Skeldon getting the touchdown when the team in navy jerseys drove over from a lineout in the left corner. It went unconverted.
Dalton’s scintillating clean break to the Scotland 22 on the half hour mark left her needing treatment – a rare sight – and nothing came of the attack either as Breen’s grubber rolled just the wrong side of the right corner flag.
A hard carry by a patched-up Dalton culminated in an Ireland penalty which led to a siege deep in the Scottish 22 but the visitors were held up over the tryline twice and it was actually the hosts who scored before the interval.
Eve Higgins, just on for Breen, scrambled back brilliantly to prevent the try initially after a big breakout but Scotland came in waves and eventually their centre Emma Orr found a gap, with Nelson adding the extras.
Scotland winger Rhona Lloyd was sinbinned seven minutes into the second half for head-to-head contact tackling Murphy-Crowe who had been freed by a zinging pass by replacement fullback Flood in the lead-up to Djougang’s try, which was confirmed by the TMO.
O’Brien’s successful conversion brought Ireland level but they couldn’t profit from their period of numerical advantage despite one lovely offload by Dalton, a nice counter-attack by Flood and another strong carry from Hogan.
Instead, it was McLachlan who scored in the left corner – Corey was sucked in – to put the Scots ahead again late in the third quarter, Nelson landing an excellent conversion, and Bemand made four changes in the 64th minute, replacing Scuffil-McCabe and the front row.
The new unit of McGrath, Cliodhna Moloney and Christy Haney began bullying their Scottish counterparts to the extent that Ireland kept opting to take scrums from a succession of penalties deep in the opposition 22.
Scotland must have been coming close to a yellow card for scrummaging infringements just before Nelson was sinbinned for an illegal intervention near her own line and the pressure continued until replacement scrumhalf Lane nipped over.
Again O’Brien brought Ireland level on the scoreboard but the final few minutes will haunt them as a series of errors including loose handling off turnover ball, a crooked lineout throw and a pass adjudged to have been forward saw them progressively pushed back.
When McGrath gave away a penalty in the penultimate minute, Nelson being off the field possibly influenced Scotland’s decision to go for the corner rather than the posts with a relatively kickable penalty, but the outhalf was back in time to convert the winning try.
The delirious celebrations reflected not just the dramatic manner in which the win was secured, Ireland running out of numbers out wide with the clock red, but how much it meant to this Scottish side as they ended their Six Nations campaign on a high.
After the final whistle went, Wall was out on the field on crutches wearing a medical boot and being embraced by team-mates but the awful anguish on her face captured by a press photographer is perhaps the image which will linger longest from this damaging day.
Despite failing her first half concussion test, McMahon fronted up for the post-match interviews, expressing pride at how Ireland had absorbed so much adversity and vowing that the squad would be stronger as a result of facing challenges and learning harsh lessons.
Boss Bemand bemoaned Ireland’s error count and failure to turn pressure into points, which he acknowledged wasn’t good enough to win tight away games at this level, but pledged that they will work tirelessly to keep progressing in the lead-up to the World Cup.
New cap Jane Clohessy with her parents including Ireland legend Peter
