Ireland A 34 - Scotland A 19: Second string left in starting blocks as impressive Irish catch them cold

A POWERFUL-looking Scotland A team were well beaten by the Irish Wolfhounds in Belfast last night.

The Irish had far too much for the Scots in the backs, and were given ample opportunities to showcase their skills frequently returning aimless kicks downfield with interest. The Scots forwards fronted up well in the scrum, Euan Murray particularly, clearly dominating the home team, but this was not translated into points until the game was well beyond them.

Scotland A were caught cold by their Irish counterparts after only five minutes. Giant prop Tony Buckley peeled right from a ruck just inside the Scotland ten-metre line. He flicked the ball out the back of his hand to centre Darren Cave who stepped inside the defence from the right touchline. Cave then floated a delightful over-the-top pass to his captain Chris Henry who sprinted home for the try. Humphreys converted and was on target with a penalty minutes later after Scotland failed to roll away in the tackle.

Finding themselves 10-0 down after ten minutes was not what Scotland had planned. In fact, it took Scotland a full 15 minutes to set foot in the Irish half. When they did so it was down to a Ruaridh Jackson penalty punt won by the powerful Scotland scrum which Ireland couldn't cope with.

Scotland's first serious attack, again off the back of scrum dominance, saw a beautiful off-the-top lineout ball moved down the line. Jackson passed to Houston who had come in off his wing who then fed short to Ben Cairns who was in for the try but referee Pascal Gauzere called the pass forward.

The Scotland scrum as expected was on top all half but from the resulting kickable penalties, Mike Blair opted for the punt to touch by Jackson to set up an attacking field position. The resulting line-outs however were frequently poorly executed and saw the ball being gifted away often due to the ball being thrown long over the back into Irish hands.

With no platform to work off in the Irish half the Scots sought to attack from deep, and one such effort was easily broken up by Leinster lock Devon Toner. The ball was moved swiftly through the hands from left to right eventually finding centre Fergus McFadden who ran home unchallenged under the posts. Humphreys converted. Ireland A could have been further ahead at half-time, Humphreys just missing with a long drop goal attempt on the whistle to leave the score at 17-0.

Ireland started the second half brightly but the wind was soon taken out of their sails when Toner was yellow-carded for punching opposite man Jim Hamilton. This gave Scotland the impetus they required and Jackson launched a monster penalty punt into the left corner of the pitch. Scotland won the front line-out ball, moved the ball right but fumbled with the line at their mercy. They were then too eager at the resulting scrum and were penalised for the early shove. Scotland though were soon to glean some reward for their pack dominance. After another scrum had gone down on the Ireland line, Mike Blair tapped and passed right to flanker James Eddie who dived over the line by the left corner flag. Jackson's long-range conversion attempt rebounded back off the left post.

Scotland then paid the price for a loose kick upfield which was equally poorly chased. Gavin Duffy ran the ball back from his own 22, fed to McFadden who cut inside the flailing tacklers to score. Humphreys converted to stretch the lead to 24-5. Scotland hit back through Mark Robertson after some nice handling initiated by Jackson which he also converted.

The deficit though was quickly restored by Ireland after a cracking move started and finished by Isaac Boss. The scoring was finished in time added on through a Scotland penalty try after a collapsed scrum and a final try by Ireland from Johne Murphy.

Scorers: Ireland: Tries: Henry, McFadden 2, Boss, Murphy; Cons: Humphreys 3; Pen: Humphreys.

Scotland A: Tries: Eddie, Robertson, penalty try; Cons Jackson, Thompson.

Ireland A: G Duffy (Connacht); J Murphy (Leicester), D Cave (Ulster), F McFadden (Leinster), I Dowling (Munster); I Humphreys (Ulster), P Stringer (Munster); M Horan (Munster), S Cronin (Connacht), T Buckley (Munster), R Caldwell (Ulster), D Toner (Leinster), D Tuohy (Ulster), S Jennings (Leinster), C Henry (Ulster) capt. Subs used: Matthews, Bradey, Ross, O'Donaghue, Boss, Keatley, Ronan

Scotland A: J Thompson (Edinburgh); N Walker (Ospreys), B Cairns (Edinburgh), N De Luca (Edinburgh), J Houston (Edinburgh); R Jackson (Glasgow), M Blair (Edinburgh) capt; J Welsh, D Hall (both Glasgow), E Murray (Northampton), S MacLeod (Edinburgh), J Hamilton (Edinburgh), J Eddie (Glasgow), R Grant (Edinburgh), S Gray (Northampton). Subs Used : Traynor, C Hamilton, Laidlaw, Robertson, Kelly, McKenzie, Dewey.

Referee: Pascal Gauzere (Fra).

Attendance: 2,746.