Scotland v Ireland: Winners and losers as ‘halfbacks deserve all the praise’ in visitors’ triumph at Murrayfield
Ireland scrum-half Jamison Gibson-Park gets a pass out to halfback partner Sam Prendergast, while Scotland back-row Jack Dempsey launches an attack.
Following Ireland’s 32-18 victory over Scotland in the Six Nations, here’s our key winners and losers from the thrilling Test action at Murayfield on Sunday.
Winners
Sam Prendergast
Although he is just 21 years old, Ireland‘s young playmaker played with a maturity beyond his years as he came back strongly after an indifferent performance in last weekend’s Six Nations opener against England. Despite that display against the Red Rose, Prendergast was given another chance to steer Ireland’s ship and repaid the faith shown in him by his head coach, Simon Easterby. Apart from impressing off the kicking tee – he finished with a 12-point contribution courtesy of two penalties and three conversions – he also caught the eye with superb distribution with his 25-metre pass to Calvin Nash, in the build-up to the try, one of the highlights of this game.
Jamison Gibson-Park
Ireland’s halfbacks deserve all the praise as they really took control of proceedings from the outset and Gibson-Park combined brilliantly with his fellow Leinsterman. The experienced scrum-half provided slick service to his fly-half and showed his class with his excellent decision-making and game management skills. Gibson-Park varied his play well with deft offloads and clever box kicks with one of the latter executed perfectly for Hugo Keenan to gather deep inside Scotland territory, in the build up to Jack Conan’s try.
Ireland’s forwards
It would be unfair to single out any individual as the men from the Emerald Isle’s entire pack deserve credit for laying an outstanding platform for their backs, who took full advantage of it. From the excellent scrummaging display from the front-row of Andrew Porter, Finlay Bealham and Ronan Kelleher to the way the back-row of captain Caelan Doris, Josh van der Flier and Peter O’Mahony complemented each other on defence and attack, this was a superb effort from the Irish forwards. It was not a perfect display but there were times when they came close to achieving that – especially in the first half, when they dominated proceedings – and they will look to continue in this vein during the rest of the championship.
James Lowe
The Leinsterman showed glimpses of his ability against England last week – after recovering from a calf injury which kept him on the sidelines for Leinster- but was back to his best against Scotland as he proved a real handful with ball in hand during the full 80 minutes. Lowe finished with a match-high three line breaks and his efforts were rewarded when he crossed for a well-taken try in the second half.
Simon Easterby
Ireland’s interim head coach had big boots to fill when he took over the reins of the team after Andy Farrell was elevated to the coaching position for the British & Irish Lions’ upcoming tour to Australia later this year. Despite being under plenty of pressure, Easterby deserves praise as he has passed the test with flying colours as Ireland are the only unbeaten team left in the championship and are sitting pretty atop the Six Nations table after winning both their matches with bonus points.
Jack Dempsey
The Glasgow Warriors number eight came into Scotland’s run-on side at number eight and put in a busy shift during a 60-minute stint on the field. The 30-year-old was Scotland’s main ball carrier as he took the fight to his opponents and he finished the match with 15 carries – just three less than Blair Kinghorn, who made the most in the match but played for the full 80 minutes. Apart from his attacking prowess, Dempsey also did what was expected of him on defence and should retain his spot in the starting XV for Scotland’s next game against England at Twickenham on February 22.
Losers
Duhan van der Merwe
Although he scored a spectacular try, which gave his team some hope at the end of the opening half, the behemoth speedster did very little else and came off second best in his direct duel with Nash. Van der Merwe was caught out of possession on defence when Nash scored his try and was also yellow carded for taking the Ireland winger out off the ball early in the game.
Rory Darge
Scotland’s co-captain was one of their best players on the field in last weekend’s Six Nations opener against Italy but he struggled to replicate that performance against Ireland. As usual, Darge emptied the tank on defence and at the breakdown but was less visible as a ball carrier and that is an area which he will have to improve on if Scotland want to continue their impressive recent form against England in their next match in a fortnight.
Ben White
Another player who looked a pale shadow of the player who was in action against the Azzurri last week, the Toulon scrum-half was targeted by his opponents this week and he battled to cope under the pressure. Although he crossed for a try in the second half, the 26-year-old made a poor start to the game as he was caught behind the advantage line at ruck time and had several kicks charged down, especially during the game’s early stages.
Finn Russell and Darcy Graham
Scotland’s chances of securing a victory in this match suffered a double blow when two of their best players were forced off the field midway through the opening half. Russell’s absence was keenly felt as he is the team’s chief playmaker, who is crucial for the implementation of his team’s game-plan, and he’s usually the one who gives his team momentum with his brilliance on attack. The Scots looked lost during the second quarter without him on the field and although they launched a mini fightback during the latter stages of the first half and soon after half-time, they could not maintain that effort and Ireland soon regained the initiative. While Graham is not as influential as Russell, he is a brilliant attacker and came off second best in that clash of heads and hopefully he will be fit to face England.
Scotland’s bench
If Scotland want to mount a serious challenge for the Six Nations title, they will have to improve the depth in their squad as it was evident again in this fixture that their back-up players are not able to reach the standards of the players who they replace. This was especially evident when Russell and Graham left the field and, although the likes of Stafford McDowall and Jamie Dobie gave their all, there was a notable difference in their play compared to the players they replaced. Likewise, the forward replacements who came on when Scotland were chasing the game in the second half. None of the replacements who came on made the impact expected to narrow the gap and ultimately win the game.
