Ireland’s faint hopes of retaining the Six Nations rugby title evaporated with a 23-20 defeat to Scotland on Saturday.
Ireland needed to beat Scotland by a healthy margin at Croke Park to have any chance of overhauling France at the top of the standings but couldn’t convert large amounts of possession and territory into points.
Ireland fought back from 10-17 down to twice level but Dan Parks kicked his fifth penalty with two minutes left to give Scotland their first win in this season’s tournament.
Ireland outscored Scotland by two tries to one but two missed kicks by flyhalf Jonathan Sexton cost the home side the chance of winning the Triple Crown to put pressure on France.
© AP 2012Recommend this story.
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March 22nd 2010 @ 7:54am
el_Pajovic said | March 22nd 2010 @ 7:54am | Report comment
Ha ha, no not as far as I am aware, but my time in Ireland has clearly influcenced the way I say things!
Yeah the handling of the introduction of the interpretations has been a complete mess. I just have no idea why this couldn’t have happened earlier, bring it into the domestic leagues/HC/CC if not from the beginning at least in the new year so that players had a grasp of what was and wasnt an infringement. Instead they introduce it in round 4. Wow, great idea. Cats pidgeons and a whole lot of confusion. Then they decide to keep with the old rules for the club competitions? Or, has this just been that they will use NH referees instead of the SH hit squad that were shipped in to ‘clean up the mess’? I have no idea. I suspect that I am not alone. I have no problem with their refereeing, its as hit and miss as most of the decision making up here, but the manner of its introduction is remedial to say the least. Real FIFA style ineptness.
Bring back rucking. Its simple. Rough justice keeps players honest. I don’t care if mothers dont like it when they see it on tv and it never really hurt anyone. IRB stop messing with my game!!!!
March 22nd 2010 @ 9:30am
Rugby Fan said | March 22nd 2010 @ 9:30am | Report comment
I find the difference between the Welsh press and the English press interesting. Wales had a poor tournament and finished behind England for the second year running but, watching and listening to Scrum V, or reading Walesonline, you would come away with the clear impression that Wales had better coaches and better players than England. The Welsh losses were almost victories and, save the Irish game, would have been wins if they’d had more time.
Meanwhile, back in England, Johnson and his coaching team are criticized in most quarters. The players are either “robots”, “shackled” or lacking in basic rugby skills. Their wins were unimpressive and, apparently, could easily have been losses. Their losses were only to be expected and last-minute chances to win would only have disguised the true poverty of the display. The draw against Scotland was almost a humiliation.
I think Johnson was the wrong choice as manager but I have some sympathy with him because he cops it on all fronts and, often, unfairly. There were groans when Mike Tindall was called up because he seemed to symbolize Johnson’s infatuation with the old guard who are long past it. By common consent, Tindall then had a great game and was just the kind of centre England needed. The same happened last year when Johnson chose Worsley who then played well enough to be picked for the Lions.
Ashton looked lively but he did blow that chance. Before the match, he was being described as a “natural finisher”. If you read the pundits afterwards, they say the pressure got to him, and he’s a young man so can be excused. It seems to me that’s exactly what Johnson has also been saying. He thinks that pressure can get to a new player so he prefers to surround them with familiar combinations and/or more experienced players.
This was an odd 6N. I’m curious to know what other Roarers think a Lions squad would look like if it was selected this year. For all the confidence Johnson might have about England’s progress, it doesn’t seem to be widely shared in the rest of the rugby world. I can’t help thinking that McGeechan would probably end up choosing more Scots at the expense of some Welsh rather than adding English players. It’s a tricky hypothetical because you can’t easily forget what players actually did in South Africa where a number of Welsh players acquitted themselves well.
March 22nd 2010 @ 8:05pm
Wavell Wakefield said | March 22nd 2010 @ 8:05pm | Report comment
Spot on about the media. One could use various ways and various measures to illustrate the startling decline of Wales, but apparently Welsh fans and players (Stephen Jones) think they can be a great team. There’s never any shades of grey with the media, and therefore the public. Everything is black and white. Personally I think Scotland are massively over-hyped, Wales were largely tactically inept and reliant on Shane WIlliams (despite the presence of so many Lions), Italy were basically as robotic as ever despite occasional glimpses and England were hit and miss. I’m not sure of the expectation on England is arrogance or schadenfreude in the making. For example, Scotland are the coming force and allegedly deserved to beat Wales and Italy and yet an English draw at Murrayfield is the worst result ever despite the previous loss there two seasons ago. It’s all a little odd, frankly. There doesn’t seem to be much realism in circulation.
March 22nd 2010 @ 9:43am
pothale said | March 22nd 2010 @ 9:43am | Report comment
NH Lions:
15 English bloke
14 Irish bloke
13 French bloke
12 French bloke
11 French bloke
10 French bloke
9 French bloke
8 Scottish bloke
7 English bloke
6 Irish bloke
5 French Bloke
4 Scottish bloke
3 Welsh Bloke
2 French bloke
1 English bloke
March 22nd 2010 @ 9:51am
el_Pajovic said | March 22nd 2010 @ 9:51am | Report comment
15 Irish bloke
14 Irish bloke
13 Irish bloke
12 French bloke
11 French bloke
10 French bloke
9 Welsh bloke
8 Irish bloke
7 English bloke
6 Irish bloke
5 French Bloke
4 Scottish bloke
3 Welsh Bloke
2 French bloke
1 English bloke