Ireland 36; Scotland 14
Scotland certainly talked the talk in the run-up to this crunch Pool B clash in France all last week but it was Ireland who walked the walk when and where it mattered — on the Stade de France pitch in front of a sea of green on Saturday night.
It took Andy Farrell’s side a mere 62 seconds to make a bold statement with James Lowe’s scintillating try and while the Scots burst a gut to try and get back into the game over the following 15 minutes, by half-time the game was done and dusted as the World No. 1 team had by then scored four tries and guaranteed themselves a bonus point.
Given that Scotland needed to win by eight points and deprive Ireland of a bonus point, it meant that the second half required them to scale a rugby Everest, something that quickly went beyond them as Ireland scored a further quick two tries to force their enemy further down the foothills.
Yes, we then conceded two quick tries to the Scots in the 64th and 65th minutes after we had emptied the bench, but the winners then regrouped and were unlucky not to add a seventh try as Finlay Bealham’s late touchdown was called back for an earlier knock-on in the move.
On a night when Peter O’Mahony became the country’s 10th rugby centurion, it was fitting that Ireland should play arguably their best game of the year in the way they dismantled the Gregor Townsend-coached Scotland side with a superior brand of rugby, both on the cerebral and physical levels.
All week in the run-up, the losers had no shortage of players standing behind mics telling the world how they would beat Ireland - words that felt like omelettes on their faces even before referee Nic Berry had blasted the short whistle to signal half-time.
No sooner had the official sounded the final whistle on a 36-14 scoreline than Ireland’s thoughts had turned elsewhere - to the All Blacks this Saturday night in the same venue at the same time (3.00 p.m. kickoff, Eastern Time). Also high on the list was trying to figure out the extent of the side’s walking wounded with Mack Hansen (calf), James Ryan (hand), James Lowe (eye) and Tadhg Furlong (hamstring) all nursing injuries.
This was compounded by the revelation that Keith Earls, a natural cover for wing and No. 13 shirts, was himself nursing, along with Robbie Henshaw, hamstring problems. The next few days will be vital as players try to show they are fit to face New Zealand, with Jimmy O’Brien on standby should the worst emerge on the availability list of the walking wounded.
Saturday night saw Farrell’s men make it 17 wins in a row - a remarkable feat which cements their places as the globe’s No. 1 side. You got an idea of how great the difference between the standing and Ireland was when Johnny Sexton could be relieved of his duties by the break with influential stalwarts such as Peter O’Mahony, Tadhg Beirne, Andrew Porter and Tadhg Furlong being called ashore on 47 minutes with their job done as “Faz” began planning for a way to complete a third victory in a row against the All Blacks.
When Hugo Keenan, with a brace, and Iain Henderson added tries to Lowe’s second minute dot-down, Ireland had done their night’s work and then Dan Sheehan and Garry Ringrose made it 36-0, you could forgive the much-changed format for slacking off on their commitment to allow the Scots in for two converted tries of their own.
Earlier the Scots had made a huge effort to make a statement following the early Irish score by camping in the winner’s 22 for close on a quarter hour in pursuit of the score that would restore some of their self-belief. In that time we saw a different Ireland as the backs and forwards combined to defend brilliantly although seriously under the cosh.
After conceding penalties, the Scots kept going to the corner in the hope of penetrating cover but they found it unbreachable despite keeping play going for up to 20 phases on occasion.
That Ireland could take such punishment and still force timely turnover tells another story about the defensive side of their play - one that will need to be working in all departments when the men from the silver fern country provide the ultimate test in opposition this weekend.
Our players had to show their versatility too as with both our starting wingers Lowe and Mack Hansen injured in the first half, scrum-half Jamison Gibson-Parks and centre Ringrose played more than half the game each hugging the touchlines.
The reshuffle saw Stuart McCloskey, a dad earlier in the week, come into for his World Cup debut and his performance in no way lessened the intensity of the Ireland defense or attack.
Crowley came on to replace Sexton at the break and showed his attacking prowess by sending Ringrose clear of a gaping defense with a lovely outside-of-the-boot kick on 57 minutes, with his conversion hitting the post and going wide.
Ireland: H Keenan; M Hansen, G Ringrose, B Aki, J Lowe; J Sexton (capt), J Gibson-Park; A Porter, D Sheehan, T Furlong; T Beirne, I Henderson; P O'Mahony, J van der Flier, C Doris Replacements: R Kelleher, D Kilcoyne, F Bealham, J Ryan, J Conan, C Murray, J Crowley, S McCloskey.
All Black will provide our
biggest test - Sexton
Ireland skipper Johnny Sexton was simultaneously enjoying the moment of victory over Scotland on Saturday night while moving his mind forward to contemplate the biggest test of his career - New Zealand coming down the line like a big black juggernaut this coming Saturday evening in Paris.
Having lost the first test to the All Black during last year’s summer tri-test series in the antipodes, Sexton led his team to an historic double set of victories in the remaining matches to win the series 2-1.
Now his total focus is on making it a hat-trick of victories against the aristocrats of the rugby game who will be extra-motivated following the fall out and criticism of those reversals in the summer of 2022.
Ireland too will have their own motivation as it was in the last World Cup that they got spanked 46-14 in Tokyo at the same quarter final stage they are meeting their opponents this weekend.
Ironically Joe Schmidt was the Ireland Head Coach that day but this time around, he is part of the New Zealand management team under Ian Foster who will be expected by their fans to make things right from their perspective.
"We went to New Zealand and Andy told us he'd put us under the most pressure he could find. To go on a three Test tour but also to do the midweek [Maori] games, it was to test us and to make us learn and we learnt so many lessons on that tour to take with us for the Six Nations, to win a Grand Slam, and it's to put us in this situation to have to play them again," explained the 38-year-old who is arguably playing the best rugby of his career.
Turning to this world cup, he pointed out: "We always knew we would most likely play France or New Zealand. There's no easy option there and now we've got New Zealand, so it will be a very tough game. I see that they were talking about revenge already and stuff like that, so it will be a game they want and we need to be ready for it.
"They've already said it's one that they want and when they're hurting and they want to put it right, that's the biggest challenge in rugby, to try and beat them when they're in that frame of mind. Two teams will both be under pressure for different reasons and it will be who copes with that the best and who can put their game out there on the biggest day when the pressure is on," he stressed.
A feature of this competition has been the number of Ireland fans attending the games, making them more like home fixtures than foreign encounters.
Sexton explains: "My brother texted me about three hours before the game, he was down at the stadium already and he just said, 'Wait until you see what it's like.' He wasn't here last week, my other brother was here last week, but I took his word for it. The lads were talking, we have a Scottish physio who told me it would be a 50:50 crowd. I said 'we'll see.’
"They give us some of the best days of our lives, and it's important that we repay that with our performance and give them something to cheer about. We definitely did tonight. It's all about next week now. Against South Africa we knew we had two weeks to prepare but we're focused already on next week."
As always Head Coach Andy Farrell was coolness personified after the game and marveled at the support his team was getting from the tens of thousands of Irish who landed in Paris for the game.
"I think it's amazing, the songs at the end of the game, I love all that. We got a bit of stick, didn't we, for walking around against South Africa, but we walk round and thank the fans after every game. It's the least we can do when they turn up in their thousands like they've done.
"We play for them, we talk about it every week. I talked about it before the game in the dressing room, it means more than what people think, 100 per cent, and I know that France is buzzing with Irish people, but I believe it's bonkers back home."
