Rugby: Capital players shine but suffer last-kick heartbreak

The result, only confirmed in the last minute by a drop-goal by Irish replacement Darragh Fitzpatrick, means that the Scots' amateur side have failed to win at the Dublin ground in three attempts but the likes of Currie trio Richard Snedden, Ali Hamilton and Mark Cairns can be proud of their performances.

Snedden, had a torrid start at scrum-half but grew into the match and, by midway through the second half, was the star man. Young prop Hamilton has had a superb season and was solid in the front-row until injury forced him off while back-row Cairns was his usual consistent self.

Of the other Capital players involved Boroughmuir centre Malcolm Clapperton scored the Scots' second try of the match to tie things up at 15-15 and was bright in attack.

Heriot's hooker Finlay Gillies also ably filled the void left by his injured clubmate Scott Burnett.

However, the Scots will see this as one that got away given the amount of possession they had in the second half after bouncing back strongly from 15-3 down after 37 minutes.

Irish No.8 Frank Cogan and then hooker Mike Essex scored tries to make it 12-0 within 14 minutes.

Those tries seemed to wake Scotland up, though, and Melrose stand-off Scott Wight got his side on the board with a penalty.

Replacement Fitzpatrick then kicked the Irish into a 15-3 lead but the last moment of the first half certainly belonged to Scotland.

Full-back Fraser Harkness from Selkirk bustled his way over for a try and, two minutes later, Clapperton was on hand with a converted try to level things up.

Players were beginning to cramp up all over the pitch as the game entered the last quarter, the pace of the encounter having taken an inevitable toll on some.

Both sides kept going for the victory, though, and Wight and Fitzpatrick swapped penalties to leave it at 18-18 heading into the final seven minutes.

Harkness had a half chance for the Scots with a nice chip and chase that nearly came off but, after Fitzpatrick had missed a penalty, he made amends with the last kick of the game, a drop-goal that broke Scottish hearts.

The players will be hurting today, there is no doubt about that, but the club international format should be extended if the standard on show at Donnybrook is anything to go by.

Scorers:

Ireland clubs: Tries: Cogan, Essex; Conversion: O'Shea; Penalties: Fitzpatrick (2); Drop goals: Fitzpatrick.Scotland clubs: Tries: Harkness, Clapperton; Conversion: Wight; Penalties: Wight (2).

Ireland clubs: D O'Shea; M Healy, E Moloney, K Lett; B Keeshan, S Cronin; J Ryan, M Essex, S Shawe, P Huntly, F Walsh, H Hogan, F Cogan, Z Farivars. Subs: G Slattery, C Condon, S Crawford, R Copeland, C Sheridan, D Fitzpatrick, S Scanlon..

Scotland clubs: F Harkness; J Fleming, M Clapperton, J King, F Thomson; S Wight, R Snedden; G Reid, F Gillies, A Hamilton, R McKay, D Kelly, J Dalziel, R Weston, M Cairns. Subs: G Wood, A Dymock, S Sutherland, A Dunlop, G Wilson, A MacMahon, C Ferguson.