TWO BONUS-POINT wins from two in the opening block of the Six Nations, a relatively healthy squad, lots of players in good form, a few more to come back from injury, and still room for improvement. Ireland will fly back to Dublin in a happy place.
Their 32-18 win over Scotland, the 11th consecutive victory against this opposition, was well-earned as they started fast, got into a dominant position, rode out the Scottish fightback, then finished the contest in ruthless fashion.
Ireland are top of the Six Nations table by four match points, the only team to have won both of their opening games. With a visit to Wales, a home clash with France, and a trip to Rome to come, they’re favourites to seal an unprecedented third consecutive title.
Destiny is in their own hands.
“I think we set out at the beginning of this championship to work hard, keep getting better, keep challenging each other in terms of the standards and I think we’re seeing some of that today,” said interim head coach Simon Easterby.
“There is an opportunity which has been well documented and we’ve got to make sure that we prepare in the right way for Wales and go to the Millennium Stadium with the same sort of mindset that we came here with.”
Easterby was pleased with the application his players showed in their four-try win in Edinburgh.
Calvin Nash dotted down early on and Caelan Doris also scored in the first half before tries from James Lowe and Jack Conan sealed the deal.
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“I think we always knew that we’d have to shut them down and stop them getting time and space and momentum,” said Easterby.
Ireland lift the Centenary Quaich trophy. Billy Stickland / INPHO
Billy Stickland / INPHO / INPHO
“I thought we did really that without the ball but also on attack I felt like we delivered a lot of what we had worked on in the week around trying to attack Scotland in the right way.
“Although we conceded late in the first half, I thought the scoreline was a reflection of our dominance in the game and maybe we could have been one or two scores up.”
Ireland did have a couple of frustrating periods. They were held up over the Scottish tryline twice during Duhan van der Merwe’s spell in the sin bin in the first half, while they were under pressure early in the second half.
Captain Caelan Doris said Ireland were calm during both of those periods.
“Backing what we do,” said Doris when asked what the messages were. “The game over here [in 2023] epitomised the calm in chaos and trusting that we’ll figure things out as we go on the pitch.
“I think it was the most experienced Irish team ever in terms of caps and I think that showed in terms of the calmness there.
“Coming in together, taking a breath, acknowledging where we’re at and getting back to the plan fairly quickly. We saw that today and we saw that two years ago. It’s been a real strength of ours over the last number of years.”
Doris led by example for Ireland with his ball-carrying. Though he was held up over the tryline, he was happy to smash his way through a tackle from Jack Dempsey and Grant Gilchrist to grab his first-half try.
“I love carrying,” said Doris. “It’s probably my favourite part of the game. Tries don’t come too frequently for me. I think it’s only my second in the Six Nations so yeah, it was a nice moment.”
Sam Prendergast and James Lowe. Dan Sheridan / INPHO
Dan Sheridan / INPHO / INPHO
There were lots of good Irish performances at Murrayfield, with Hugo Keenan, Jamison Gibson-Park, Andrew Porter, Finlay Bealham, James Ryan, and James Lowe among the many standouts.
Out-half Sam Prendergast was named player of the match and Easterby is happy with the Kildare man’s progress in the opening weeks of this championship.
“He was good, wasn’t he?” said Easterby. “Playing in a different game away from home, he delivered not only in terms of mixing his game, attacking the line, his kicking game, but also off the tee, he was excellent.
“It allowed us to keep staying ahead and keep pushing out the scoreline, which on some other days it’s tighter than it needs to be but I thought Sam was excellent. He was good across his game, both in attack and defence.”
- This article was updated on 9 February to correct the final scoreline and ‘Scott Cummings’ to ‘Grant Gilchrist.’
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'There's an opportunity' - Ireland in a happy place in the Six Nations
TWO BONUS-POINT wins from two in the opening block of the Six Nations, a relatively healthy squad, lots of players in good form, a few more to come back from injury, and still room for improvement. Ireland will fly back to Dublin in a happy place.
Their 32-18 win over Scotland, the 11th consecutive victory against this opposition, was well-earned as they started fast, got into a dominant position, rode out the Scottish fightback, then finished the contest in ruthless fashion.
Ireland are top of the Six Nations table by four match points, the only team to have won both of their opening games. With a visit to Wales, a home clash with France, and a trip to Rome to come, they’re favourites to seal an unprecedented third consecutive title.
Destiny is in their own hands.
“I think we set out at the beginning of this championship to work hard, keep getting better, keep challenging each other in terms of the standards and I think we’re seeing some of that today,” said interim head coach Simon Easterby.
“There is an opportunity which has been well documented and we’ve got to make sure that we prepare in the right way for Wales and go to the Millennium Stadium with the same sort of mindset that we came here with.”
Easterby was pleased with the application his players showed in their four-try win in Edinburgh.
Calvin Nash dotted down early on and Caelan Doris also scored in the first half before tries from James Lowe and Jack Conan sealed the deal.
“I think we always knew that we’d have to shut them down and stop them getting time and space and momentum,” said Easterby.
“I thought we did really that without the ball but also on attack I felt like we delivered a lot of what we had worked on in the week around trying to attack Scotland in the right way.
“Although we conceded late in the first half, I thought the scoreline was a reflection of our dominance in the game and maybe we could have been one or two scores up.”
Ireland did have a couple of frustrating periods. They were held up over the Scottish tryline twice during Duhan van der Merwe’s spell in the sin bin in the first half, while they were under pressure early in the second half.
Captain Caelan Doris said Ireland were calm during both of those periods.
“Backing what we do,” said Doris when asked what the messages were. “The game over here [in 2023] epitomised the calm in chaos and trusting that we’ll figure things out as we go on the pitch.
“I think it was the most experienced Irish team ever in terms of caps and I think that showed in terms of the calmness there.
“Coming in together, taking a breath, acknowledging where we’re at and getting back to the plan fairly quickly. We saw that today and we saw that two years ago. It’s been a real strength of ours over the last number of years.”
Doris led by example for Ireland with his ball-carrying. Though he was held up over the tryline, he was happy to smash his way through a tackle from Jack Dempsey and Grant Gilchrist to grab his first-half try.
“I love carrying,” said Doris. “It’s probably my favourite part of the game. Tries don’t come too frequently for me. I think it’s only my second in the Six Nations so yeah, it was a nice moment.”
There were lots of good Irish performances at Murrayfield, with Hugo Keenan, Jamison Gibson-Park, Andrew Porter, Finlay Bealham, James Ryan, and James Lowe among the many standouts.
Out-half Sam Prendergast was named player of the match and Easterby is happy with the Kildare man’s progress in the opening weeks of this championship.
“He was good, wasn’t he?” said Easterby. “Playing in a different game away from home, he delivered not only in terms of mixing his game, attacking the line, his kicking game, but also off the tee, he was excellent.
“It allowed us to keep staying ahead and keep pushing out the scoreline, which on some other days it’s tighter than it needs to be but I thought Sam was excellent. He was good across his game, both in attack and defence.”
- This article was updated on 9 February to correct the final scoreline and ‘Scott Cummings’ to ‘Grant Gilchrist.’
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