Ireland 18 - 14 Scotland: Scots miss chance to claim famous win

There was a sense of déjà vu at Donnybrook in Dublin yesterday afternoon when a team in blue with thistles on their chests played with huge passion, skill and, for the most part, intelligence to put themselves in a great position to secure a winning start to their Six Nations campaign, only to come up short as they failed to turn pressure into points.
Centre Lisa Thomson scored the first of Scotland's two tries at Donnybrook. Picture: Ross Parker/SNS/SRUCentre Lisa Thomson scored the first of Scotland's two tries at Donnybrook. Picture: Ross Parker/SNS/SRU
Centre Lisa Thomson scored the first of Scotland's two tries at Donnybrook. Picture: Ross Parker/SNS/SRU

The Scots conceded 13 unanswered points during the first 15 minutes – through an Ellen Murphy penalty and tries from hooker Cliodhna Moloney and centre Sene Naoupu – before they finally managed to establish a foothold in the game thanks to a couple of powerful lineout drives which marched Ireland all the way back to within five yards of their own try-line.

But when the visitors kicked a third penalty in quick succession to the corner, giving themselves an opportunity to really turn the screw, there was a breakdown in communication and timing between thrower and jumpers which allowed the hosts to snaffle possession and clear the danger. It was a depressing moment of wastefulness at a key time in the game and it proved costly.

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To their credit, the Scots stuck at it and they got their reward when centre Lisa Thomson, pictured, scooted under the posts and Helen Nelson added the extras to make it 13-7 at the break.

Scotland dominated the second half and cut Ireland open on a number of occasions, with Thomson, her centre partner Hannah Smith, captain Rachel Malcolm and powerhouse No 8 Jade Konkel all making big contributions but they couldn’t quite finish off the various promising positions they got themselves into, and then suffered a huge blow when Irish winger Beibhinn Parsons intercepted a Sarah Law pass and ran the length of the park to make it 18-7 to the home team with just over ten minutes to go.

The visitors once again showed their mettle to bounce back from that blow and scored a 
second try through second-row Emma Wassell.

After hooker Lana Skeldon’s touchline conversion they spent the final five minutes pushing hard for the score which would have secured a famous win but they just couldn’t quite get there.

“We knew Ireland were going to have 20 minutes where they would throw their full repertoire at us and that is exactly what happened, but we weren’t meant to give away so many points during that period,” said Scotland’s head coach Philip Doyle afterwards.

“But I’m very proud of the girls and the way we got ourselves back into that game.

“To put all that effort in, have that disastrous outcome [with the breakaway try] and then go back again for more, just shows the great character of this team,” he added.

“It doesn’t feel good today, but they’ll bank that and down the road they will be better for it. They really are going to come good in time.

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“It is all about the little step going forward towards the World Cup qualifiers in September and today was another one of those little steps.”

Next up for Scotland is a daunting challenge against last season’s Grand Slammers England at Scotstoun on 
Sunday.