Ireland surge past Scots

Ireland maintained their Six Nations Grand Slam ambitions with an impressive victory over Scotland at Murrayfield.

Hugo Southwell's try gave the Scots an early 8-0 lead but scores from locks Malcolm O'Kelly and Paul O'Connell put the visitors in command by half-time. A third try from wing Denis Hickie and third penalty from Ronan O'Gara, who kicked 13 points, extended the lead. Jon Petrie scored a second try for Scotland but late scores from John Hayes and Gavin Duffy sealed victory. After two hard-earned away victories, Eddie O'Sullivan' side can now look forward to welcoming England to Lansdowne Road in a fortnight. Scotland will try to give their coach Matt Williams a first Six Nations victory when Italy come to Edinburgh, but they again struggled to turn pressure into points. The home side started with tremendous intensity and dominated territory and possession in the opening 10 minutes. A powerful charge from flanker Jason White was carried on by Ali Hogg and when Ireland conceded a penalty close to their own line, Scotland kicked it to touch. The Irish defence foiled the home side on that occasion, but a stray hand in a ruck allowed Paterson to stroke over a penalty in the eighth minute.

If that was a paltry reward for their early pressure, Scotland got the try they deserved when Paterson's searing break and Andy Craig's pass sent Southwell streaking to the right corner. Paterson was off target with the conversion and fly-half Dan Parks then missed a presentable drop-goal attempt. Ireland got themselves on the scoreboard with an O'Gara penalty and by the 24th minute the visitors were ahead. Stuart Grimes pulled down O'Kelly at a line-out, Ireland kicked the penalty to touch and from the set-piece, the big lock was driven over by the rest of his pack.

O'Gara added the conversion and a further penalty, after Shane Horgan almost grabbed a second try from O'Gara's chip to the corner, only for the ball to spill from his hand. But Ireland still delivered a hammer blow to Scotland's hopes just before the interval. O'Connell - skipper in the absence of Brian O'Driscoll - powered through Parks' weak tackle after a free-kick from a scrummage to burrow over.

Scotland suffered a further blow on the resumption when Ireland flanker Johnny O'Connor won another vital turnover, and O'Gara's basketball pass sent Hickie over in the left corner. O'Gara converted and then thumped over a 40m penalty to give the visitors a commanding 28-8 advantage. Scotland looked bereft of ideas but a half-break from Paterson sparked them back to life just before the hour. Stuart Grimes won a line-out and a well-worked move saw Petrie scuttle round the side of the ruck to dive over in the left corner. But it proved a false dawn, and Ireland reasserted their authority in the final 10 minutes. Peter Stringer and O'Kelly combined to put giant prop Hayes over in the right corner before replacement Gavin Duffy scorched away on the left, David Humphreys adding the final flourish with a touchline conversion.

: C Paterson; S Danielli, A Craig, H Southwell, S Lamont; D Parks, C Cusiter; T Smith, G Bulloch (capt), G Kerr; S Grimes, S Murray; J White, A Hogg, J Petrie.

R Russell, B Douglas, N Hines, J Dunbar, M Blair, G Ross, B Hinshelwood.

G Murphy; G Dempsey, S Horgan, K Maggs, D Hickie, R O'Gara, P Stringer; R Corrigan, S Byrne, J Hayes, M O'Kelly, P O'Connell, S Easterby, J O'Connor, A Foley.

F Sheahan, M Horan, D O'Callaghan, E Miller, G Easterby, D Humphreys, G Duffy.

Joel Jutge (France)
