SO MUCH OF the talk about this Ireland team tends to focus on their phase-play attack, which has been their superpower in recent years but has been dealt some tough challenges during this Six Nations.
In the end, it was a clever five-metre tap play that helped Andy Farrell’s team to get over the line and seal the title against Scotland.
Dan Sheehan’s first-half score came from a botched Scottish lineout. In credit to Ireland, two smart kicks by Jack Crowley and James Lowe had seen them put pressure on Scotland in their own 22 and the end result a few minutes later was that Sheehan try.
But it’s fair to say that Ireland’s attack struggled to make a genuine dent in that first half as Scotland put up an impressive defensive resistance.
Ireland led 7-6 at the break but worry reverberated around the Aviva Stadium during those half-time chats. What if Ireland just couldn’t get firing?
Within 40 seconds of the restart, some of the concerns eased, at least for a while. Lowe’s power came to the fore as Ireland countered from Scotland’s clearing kick.
Ireland’s left wing breaks the initial tackle from Kyle Steyn and Blair Kinghorn, then fires up a fend at Huw Jones, giving himself time to offload inside to Bundee Aki.
It’s an important bit of play from Lowe. Although Ireland aren’t able to turn the bust into a clear try-scoring chance, the ensuing phases end with Scotland conceding a penalty and Crowley makes it 10-6 off the tee.
That moment settles Ireland. Their next attack in Scottish territory is powerful as they hammer the Scots on the gainline before the visitors stray offside. With a penalty under the posts, captain Peter O’Mahony calls for the tap play.
Hooker Sheehan taps and makes a dynamic, direct first carry before Caelan Doris gets on the ball, then Tadhg Furlong has a shot at the line.
Tadhg Beirne picks and threatens to carry himself here before throwing the late pass to Furlong, who shows power to ride the tackle from Andy Christie and George Turner and then stretch for the line as Fagerson looks to stop him from dotting down.
Assistant referee Karl Dickson, who has had to judge it from quite a distance, tells referee Matt Carley that he thinks Furlong has knocked the ball on before grounding and suggests that the on-field decision is no try, which Carley goes with as he calls on television match official [TMO] Marius Jonker for a formal review.
The “no try” call from the refereeing team means Jonker needs to find clear and obvious evidence that it was actually a try, which he doesn’t seem to believe is there.
“The ball has been dislodged,” says Jonker, “and you stick with your on-field decision.
“Lost forward, yeah, lost.”
During the TMO review, O’Mahony asks Carley to consider the head contact from Turner on Furlong, but that is not discussed by the match officials.
Ireland must have felt they had cracked Scotland here in the 48th minute to move into a 17-6 lead that would have been relatively commanding. Instead, Scotland get a goal line drop out and the score remains 10-6.
There’s an Irish error on the ensuing possession, with Furlong knocking on as Joe McCarthy leaves a pass for him.
But Ireland are soon back on the offensive as their scrum dismantles the Scottish pack…
… and lays the platform for a smart kick from wing Calvin Nash.
Scotland are suddenly back under major pressure and they scramble a poor kick to touch inside their own 22.
A superb lineout attack from Ireland very nearly yields a 53rd-minute try.
Robbie Henshaw and Josh van der Flier make powerful carries before a slick one-handed offload from Joe McCarthy, then sharp passes from Lowe and Jordan Larmour find Nash in space.
It takes an outstanding tackle from Christie and Grant Gilchrist to stop Nash from crossing and he spills the ball forward on the ground.
It’s nearly a brilliant Irish try to give them scoreboard control but instead it’s another dose of frustration as Scotland cling on.
Ireland stay on task, though, and work their way back into the Scotland 22 a few minutes later as the Scottish discipline slips once again under pressure.
But this time, Ireland produce an error with the tryline in sight. Jamison Gibson-Park’s pass is slightly behind Garry Ringrose but he’d still have expected to take it.
It means that after a third quarter in which Ireland have dominated territory and possession, they still haven’t managed to give themselves breathing room on the scoreboard.
It’s Ringrose who takes them back into the Scottish 22 after picking off a loose Scotland offload and racing 60 metres down the right.
Scotland are close to out on their feet after so much defending, with Gibson-Park just denied by a wonderful try-saving tackle from Jack Dempsey.
And then there’s another wondrous Scottish tackle as they somehow stop the try, with Cameron Redpath managing to hold Henshaw up over the line.
It’s remarkable that Ireland still haven’t managed to get the crucial try despite plenty of excellent play but Scotland deserve huge credit.
Unfortunately for them, referee Carley has been playing three advantages on this passage and sub hooker Ewan Ashman is sin-binned after his side’s seventh penalty of the second half.
Ireland have another decision to make, with Doris now the captain after O’Mahony’s departure. There’s no hesitation in opting for the tap again.
And finally, Ireland get their score with a slick, clever play.
There’s plenty going on here.
Red below – Sub hooker Rónan Kelleher is the man to tap the ball and he’s the first carrying threat, with Tadhg Beirne and Ryan Baird on either side of him to latch on and help drive him towards the line.
Pink - Scrum-half Gibson-Park is set to dart out the back of Kelleher to possibly receive a pullback pass.
Black - Doris is set-up to the left to potentially receive a pass off the deck from Kelleher or run a hard line off Gibson-Park if Kelleher passes to the scrum-half. Jack Conan is on Doris’ shoulder to latch on him.
Yellow - Porter is the real strike runner. He’s doing his best to remain disguised here before exploding onto the ball.
Blue - Finlay Bealham and van der Flier’s job is to support Porter’s carry, latching on and driving him over the line.
Everything unfolds as planned in a beautifully fluid way and Ireland are left with the scenario they might have hoped for, the 3-on-2 situation we see below.
The pass from Kelleher is seriously skillful with Scottish defenders hurtling at him. He has to tap in a controlled manner, scoop the ball, shape to either carry or pass to his left and then leave a blind pass directly behind himself. It’s superbly done.
Porter does still have to slightly hop to take the ball but just watch how quickly he gets his body back down low before he carries into Dempsey and Christie.
It’s an excellent adjustment from Porter in the blink of an eye to ensure he’s not upright in the carry. The Ireland prop’s power is obvious but he still needs the latch from Bealham and van der Flier to seal the deal.
All of this happens in the space of three seconds but it’s a beautifully-executed play from Ireland.
The scene up in the coaches’ box tells us plenty about the importance of the try.
It seems clear that head coach Andy Farrell is immediately congratulating Paul O’Connell here. Five-metre tap plays are generally the domain of forwards coaches and O’Connell’s delight at the plan working is obvious.
That delight was still obvious post-match as Farrell and captain O’Mahony reflected on the try. The Ireland head coach revealed that Ireland had worked on three specific five-metre tap plays for this game.
“We set it up well, didn’t we?” said Farrell. “Honestly, we had three set-plays from taps five metres before the line, one of them that we’ve not done. We’d not done any throughout and we’ve been practising day in, day out to get right.”
O’Mahony interjected at this point to admit that Ireland had struggled to nail the key play in training.
“We made a bollocks of that one,” said the Ireland captain, speaking about Porter’s try.
“Quite literally, we made a bollocks of it yesterday in the captain’s run here, didn’t we,” said Farrell with a laugh.
“But we set it up nicely because the first one was direct [when Sheehan carried]. Then the second one, I suppose they thought the directness was coming again but a bit of subtlety and Andrew Porter charging on the inside was a nice one for us.
“But we’ve still got one in the bag!”
This was Ireland’s only try from a five-metre tap play in this Six Nations but we know that the Irish provinces have an array of these moves in their playbooks – some of them very similar to the one for Porter’s score.
It has been no surprise to see Ireland build on that strength within the provinces. Their plan for Porter’s 65th-minute try against the Scots was detailed and the deception paid off perfectly.
There were still nervy moments to survive in the endgame but ultimately Porter’s effort was the try that sealed the Six Nations title.
