Hello and welcome to our coverage of Ireland’s Six Nations clash with Scotland. I’m Steve O’Rourke and I’ll be your host for this afternoon.
As always, we’d love to hear your thoughts on the game. E-mail steve@the42.ie, tweet @the42_ie, post a message to our Facebook wall, or just leave a comment below.
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The game will get under way at 2.15pm.
Here’s a reminder of the teams, just in case you missed it during the week, starting with the hosts:
Ireland
15. Rob Kearney
14. Keith Earls
13. Garry Ringrose
12. Bundee Aki
11. Jacob Stockdale
10. Johnny Sexton
9. Conor Murray
1. Cian Healy
2. Rory Best (captain)
3. Tadhg Furlong
4. James Ryan
5. Devin Toner
6. Peter O’Mahony
7. Dan Leavy
8. CJ Stander
Replacements:
16. Sean Cronin
17. Jack McGrath
18. Andrew Porter
19. Iain Henderson
20. Jordi Murphy
21. Kieran Marmion
22. Joey Carbery
23. Jordan Larmour
While Blair Kinghorn will make a first start for Scotland as the visitors make one change from the team that beat England in the last round.
Scotland
15. Stuart Hogg
14. Blair Kinghorn
13. Huw Jones
12. Peter Horne
11. Sean Maitland
10. Finn Russell
9. Greig Laidlaw
1. Gordon Reid
2. Stuart McInally
3. Simon Berghan
4. Grant Gilchrist
5. Jonny Gray
6. John Barclay (captain)
7. Hamish Watson
8. Ryan Wilson
Replacements:
16. Fraser Brown
17. Jamie Bhatti
18. Willem Nel
19. Tim Swinson
20. David Denton
21. Ali Price
22. Nick Grigg
23. Lee Jones
There’s an hour to kick off and the supporters are starting to flock towards the Aviva Stadium. As you would expect, there’s plenty of colour.
Joe Schmidt’s side can wrap up the Six Nations title today with a bonus-point win — as long as England fail to match that result — but we don’t want to get too far ahead of ourselves.
Instead, we want to know if you think they can secure victory over a Scotland team coming in to this fixture on a high.
With that in mind, who’s your money on?
Poll Results:
The lads in Paddy Cullen’s have changed the name of the pub for the day.
The latest from the ground:
With 15 minutes to go to kick off, we asked some fans outside the stadium how they see today’s game going:
The teams are coming out on to the field and we’re just the anthems away from kick off now.
The formalities are finished and Wayne Barnes blows the whistle to get us under way.
Positive start from the Irish pack. Scotland took a quick line out to take on the hosts in the maul but Ireland have won the scrum.
Sexton and Kearney combine to force a Scotland knock on and, though they lose some yards, they have the game’s first penalty.
Knowing he has the penalty, Sexton attempts a cross-field kick to Earls and the Munster man just misses it.
Ireland go for the corner instead of the posts.
And lose the lineout on an overthrow.
Nothing to show on the scoreboard as yet but it’s decent from Ireland so far, dominating possession and territory.
And just as I type that, Scotland force a mistake and win their first penalty and a chance to clear their lines.
Penalty – Scotland 3-0 Ireland – Greig Laidlaw
After Ireland steel the lineout, Scotland win their second penalty in quick succession and the visitors are not taking any chances, Laidlaw going for the three points and he makes no mistake.
Crucial turnover from Ireland’s Dan Leavy there with Scotland stringing together multiple phases and looking dangerous.
Let’s check in with Wayne Barnes:
TRY! – Ireland 7-3 Scotland – Jacob Stockdale
Brilliant from Stockdale as he reads Peter Horne like a book for the intercept try.
Sexton adds the extras and Ireland lead.
That’s nine tries for Stockdale in eight Tests.
Substitution: Ryan Wilson, who went off for a HIA, will not be returning and he’s replaced by David Denton.
Criminal from Scotland as they have a two-on-one overlap after brilliant work from the visitors but Huw Jones — after providing magic earlier in the move — can’t complete the simple pass to Hogg with the tryline at his mercy and Ireland escape.
Cian Healy continues to receive treatment and could be a doubt for the second half.
Scotland look threatening inside Ireland’s 22 again but, once more, butcher an opportunity though this mistake was not as egregious as the one on their previous visit.
A great opportunity for Ireland to score again before the half thanks to brilliant work from Rob Kearney but Conor Murray and then Bundee Aki are both held up and Ireland have to settle for the 5m scrum.
TRY! Ireland 14-3 Scotland – Jacob Stockdale
Stockdale has his second try of the game but that one was all about Garry Ringrose with the beautiful wrap around with Aki before the flat pass out to his winger for the score.
Sexton converts from the touchline and Ireland have an 11 point lead.
Half-time – Ireland 14-3 Scotland
That was a pulsating 40 minutes of action and the difference between the sides is Ireland’s finishing.
Scotland will wonder what might have been had they not made such a mess of that near-certain try at the half hour mark.
Sexton gets the second half under way. A big 40 minutes ahead for the home side.
Much like the started the first, Ireland are dominating possession and territory to open the second.
Peter O’Mahony has been superb since the break especially.
Ireland win a penalty and opt once more for the lineout over the kick at goal.
TRY! – Ireland 21-3 Scotland – Conor Murray
This time, the decision to go for the corner is the correct one as Ireland put together an impressive maul before Murray finishes under pressure.
Sexton is three from three with is conversions.
Scotland make a mess of yet another certain try, this time Hogg’s poor pass costs them.
The poor finishing has been a difference so far.
Try! – Ireland 21-8 Scotland - Blair Kinghorn
Finally, the visitors get their execution right and Kinghorn scores his first try for Scotland.
Laidlaw misses a difficult conversion.
Ireland make a couple of changes after than Scotland try.
Jordi Murphy is on for Peter O’Mahony while Iain Henderson has replaced Devin Toner.
Here’s Kinghorn going over in the corner:
Ireland are bearing down on the try line once more but will have to settle for a 5m scrum as they chase the bonus point score.
Fraser Brown with a brilliant turnover for Scotland. For every try-scoring opportunity they’ve made a mess of, the visitors have had a crucial win at the breakdown.
18 minutes to play.
Sexton misses a kickable penalty and maybe that’s why Ireland were going for the corner earlier. Given the importance of a bonus point win, it’s slightly strange Ireland opted not to go for broke in that situation.
It remains a 13 point game.
What. A. Stat:
TRY! – Ireland 28-8 – Sean Cronin
There it is, Ireland secure the bonus point and, assuming they don’t concede three converted tries in the final 10 minutes, we now know that Joe Schmidt’s men will win the 2018 Six Nations Championship this evening if England can’t match this result against France.
Rob Kearney gets the TV3 Man of the Match.
That’s tough on Garry Ringrose for me but Kearney did make 140m on 10 carries so you can see why they edged that way.
Full-time – Ireland 28-8 Scotland
Matt Williams on TV3 says that he finds Ireland’s approach ‘boring’.
With Ireland being 80 minutes away from a potential Grand Slam, I’m sure Irish fans will take a win regardless of the style of play.
That’s it from us, thanks as always for joining us. Before we shoot off, however, here’s what Ireland fans had to say after the win outside the Aviva Stadium:
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