Scotland v Ireland 6 Nations Championship Sunday 12th March 2023

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Scotland v Ireland
6 Nations Championship and Triple Crown Decider

BT Murrayfield Stadium
Edinburgh

Sunday 12th March
KO 15.00


So we approach the business end of the championship with a triple crown at stake and for Ireland a potential Grand Slam, which as the top side in the world, they must feel is within their grasp.

Ireland, more than any other side in the championship, have been Scotland's bogy side. They seem to have been inside our heads for quite some time now and with the WC coming up, if we are going to have any chance of progression from our group, it is a headspace that needs to be altered drastically. Scotland were good in their first two games but came up short against another of the big boys last time out, despite playing at times, some sublime rugby and at times dominating France. Ireland are going to be every bit as physical as France were and are playing with even more belief. They were given an unexpected;y hard game by Italy last time out and that will no doubt have removed any complacency from them. All the smart money will be on Ireland to win this one.

Scotland, to confound form and the bookies will have to match Ireland physically for the bulk of the game and to take their chances. They have shown this season that they can play well off little ball and have an extremely dangerous backline when they can get it moving. They are also playing at home and that may possibly lift them as well, along with a sense of what if, regarding the French match. The general consensus this season is that Scotland have been progressing, but this is another level, but a necessary one if they are going to be considered a side that can really compete with the best.

Ireland, by just about any objective reckoning at the moment, are the best!

I am not seeing an awful lot of changes for this one, maybe a Scotland team along these lines:


1. Schoeman
2. Turner
3. Fagerson Z
4. Gray J
5. Gray R
6. Dempsey
7. Ritchie
8. Fagerson M
9. White
10. Russell
11. DVDM
12. Tuipolotu
13. Jones
14. Steyn
15. Hogg

Subs

Sutherland
Ashman
Nel
Skinner
Christie
Price
Kinghorn
Redpath


I am assuming Gilchrist will be suspended, though the mystery of his disciplinary continues to perplex

Sutherland has had 2 good run outs for Ulster in the past two weeks and looks fit and hungry

Ashman deserves his chance and I don't want another overthrow from FB in the last 5 mins

Christie has been consistently excellent for Sarries these past few weeks and Watson still looks flat to me. He deserves his chance.

Redpath might bring some creativity off the bench, out defence has stood up well without Harris.

Collapse2005 wrote:Great game from Hansen, my man of the match so far.

He has been excellent. Amazing turnovers and well taken try.

POM has been pretty brilliant as well in fairness.

Conan

Collapse2005 wrote:Will be one hell of a RWC group

SA will be bricking it

Doubt SA will be bricking it but wonder if Scotland might be targeting the Springboks game rather than the Ireland one.

Ireland's set-piece going better without a hooker...

Sexton, what a milestone

Galted wrote:

Collapse2005 wrote:Will be one hell of a RWC group

SA will be bricking it

Doubt SA will be bricking it but wonder if Scotland might be targeting the Springboks game rather than the Ireland one.

An odd comment to say SA are bricking it. Talk about putting yourself on a pedestal... Should be a competitive group though.

Hmm. That was rather forward. A shame for that to be Fagerson's final act in the game.

Scotland struggling here though it must be said. Basic errors creeping in now.

Anyone seen Mikey? I thought he'd be on here watching this.

king_carlos wrote:Hmm. That was rather forward. A shame for that to be Fagerson's final act in the game.

Scotland struggling here though it must be said. Basic errors creeping in now.

It’s an 80 minute game and Scotland have only played well in the first 50. I don’t know if it’s fitness in the body but more a mental thing. We’ve chucked everything at Ireland and when they pulled a score ahead, it’s like the Scotland players have given up mentally

tigertattie wrote:

king_carlos wrote:Hmm. That was rather forward. A shame for that to be Fagerson's final act in the game.

Scotland struggling here though it must be said. Basic errors creeping in now.

It’s an 80 minute game and Scotland have only played well in the first 50. I don’t know if it’s fitness in the body but more a mental thing. We’ve chucked everything at Ireland and when they pulled a score ahead, it’s like the Scotland players have given up mentally

They played really well though. Maybe the better side for first 50.

Collapse2005 wrote:

tigertattie wrote:

king_carlos wrote:Hmm. That was rather forward. A shame for that to be Fagerson's final act in the game.

Scotland struggling here though it must be said. Basic errors creeping in now.

It’s an 80 minute game and Scotland have only played well in the first 50. I don’t know if it’s fitness in the body but more a mental thing. We’ve chucked everything at Ireland and when they pulled a score ahead, it’s like the Scotland players have given up mentally

They played really well though. Maybe the better side for first 50.

That’s my point. We’ve done everything and can’t crack Ireland open. They then get a very favourable scrum penalty call from the ref and score off the resulting phases of play from the lineout. We’ve played really well bro not well enough and now the energy and intensity levels have dropped and we’ve given up

Jesus this is worrying, is he ok? Broken neck?

Collapse2005 wrote:Jesus this is worrying, is he ok? Broken neck?

It looked very bad. Hope he is ok.

Collapse2005 wrote:Jesus this is worrying, is he ok? Broken neck?

Hope he’s ok. Looked like he got Kinghorn’s hip bone right to the temple.

Looked like they had oxygen on him which is very concerning

25 minutes it’s taken scotland to realise that if they put a tall jumper up at pod one on the Irish throw, you have a chance to pinch it

Massive respect to Scotland the scoreboard doesnt really do them justice today, what a test for Ireland. Toughest game for a while. Feels a bit bitter sweet with the Ringrose injury.

Ireland really are botching their chance for a BP

Collapse2005 wrote:Looked like they had oxygen on him which is very concerning

Buddy of mine at the game said he heard the doctors were worried about a broken jaw...

Russell limps off

eirebilly_01 wrote:

Collapse2005 wrote:Looked like they had oxygen on him which is very concerning

Buddy of mine at the game said he heard the doctors were worried about a broken jaw...

Ah right thanks, makes sense.

Well done Ireland

You are the best team in the world and showed it.

Scotland could not quite sustain the pressure of the first half.

Collapse2005 wrote:

eirebilly_01 wrote:

Collapse2005 wrote:Looked like they had oxygen on him which is very concerning

Buddy of mine at the game said he heard the doctors were worried about a broken jaw...

Ah right thanks, makes sense.

Can't confirm of course. Just hope he is ok.

So impressive from Ireland coping with all those injuries and still managing to cruise from 50 minutes onwards. In truth from that point on we never looked like causing their defence any issues. What an Ireland team this is, best of luck for the slam lads!

Sum it up.

First half one of the best halves of the tourney. Second half one of the worst.

Was like a big red shiny balloon that got deflated at half time

Can only hope that Ringrose is ok. He's a brilliant player. Alongside Am and Fickou as the best 13s in the world.

Really incredible for Ireland to win that with all the injuries though. Their ability to just stick to their systems in any situation is so impressive.

Mack Hansen deservedly MOM. He had a brilliant game.

I thought JGP had a very positive impact too.

king_carlos wrote:Can only hope that Ringrose is ok. He's a brilliant player. Alongside Am and Fickou as the best 13s in the world.

Really incredible for Ireland to win that with all the injuries though. Their ability to just stick to their systems in any situation is so impressive.

Mack Hansen deservedly MOM. He had a brilliant game.

I thought JGP had a very positive impact too.

Absolutely. Ireland bring on Gibson-Park to lift the intensity. Scotland on the other hand bring on Ali price to slow it down.

Where is the Irish weakness to attack? There just isn't one!

tigertattie wrote:

king_carlos wrote:Can only hope that Ringrose is ok. He's a brilliant player. Alongside Am and Fickou as the best 13s in the world.

Really incredible for Ireland to win that with all the injuries though. Their ability to just stick to their systems in any situation is so impressive.

Mack Hansen deservedly MOM. He had a brilliant game.

I thought JGP had a very positive impact too.

Absolutely. Ireland bring on Gibson-Park to lift the intensity. Scotland on the other hand bring on Ali price to slow it down.

Why on Earth was White taken off? He was playing very well and had Scotland moving.

That said, had JGP started, I think that Ireland may have taken more opportunities in the first half.

TJ wrote:Where is the Irish weakness to attack?  There just isn't one!

I will raise you Murray at 9 as a weakness. As good as he has been, too pedestrian now.

eirebilly_01 wrote:

TJ wrote:Where is the Irish weakness to attack?  There just isn't one!

I will raise you Murray at 9 as a weakness. As good as he has been, too pedestrian now.

Its hardly going to get opponents into the back field tho.

TJ wrote:Where is the Irish weakness to attack?  There just isn't one!

9 and 10 channel. We just failed to see it and keep hitting them there.

eirebilly_01 wrote:

TJ wrote:Where is the Irish weakness to attack?  There just isn't one!

I will raise you Murray at 9 as a weakness. As good as he has been, too pedestrian now.

He has done well this campaign though in tough personal circumstances for him. Gibson Park is the main man now but credit to Murray he has done well.

Andy Farrell adopting the Irish accent now...

Well done Irish fans that was a great second half. Mack Hansen was class.

Geordie wrote:Andy Farrell adopting the Irish accent now...

Well he is of Irish descent, as is his wife. Farrells brother also played for Ireland in league. He is English but there is a bit of a link anyway.

I met him in Portugal last year, impressive guy.

Ireland proved to much for Scotland eveb thouhj they had a lpt of injuries.

England will have to play a dasite better bext week if they want a chance of beateing Ireland,

Great game, good win for Ireland, a learning experience for Scotland. The Scottish first half was excellent, but their drop off in the second was more than unfortunate. To me there seemed to be both fitness and mental shortfalls. It used to Ireland that dropped away after 60 minutes, that was Scotland today. Also there didn't seem to be the belief that they turn things around, and after that first half it was evident that they did have the ability.

Wondering what the Ireland pack is going to look like next week. Herring starting - not the dynamism of Kelleher or Sheehan, but won't let the team down. Who is on the bench? Does Baird start in the row? I think he offers more than Treadwell. Conan had his best game in a long time so should fill in at 8.

Henshaw back to 13 and Osborne or O'Brien on the bench I would expect as well.

Sounds like Sheehan might be ok.

Pivotal moment was Gibson Park coming on and the Scottish front row and Ben White going off. GP box kick for Hansen and the try was fantastic.

bsando wrote:Pivotal moment was Gibson Park coming on and the Scottish front row and Ben White going off. GP box kick for Hansen and the try was fantastic.

Rubbish from Hogg tho - didn't get off the ground

I lost count but how many players did Ireland to injurinjurie?

TJ wrote:

bsando wrote:Pivotal moment was Gibson Park coming on and the Scottish front row and Ben White going off. GP box kick for Hansen and the try was fantastic.

Rubbish from Hogg tho - didn't get off the ground

Thought it was VdM who didn't get off the ground

Ireland have got the depth, they will be fine

Our lack of resources in the front row was badly exposed today, we showed very little once Schoey and Zander went off (both had good games). We nreded more than Brown, Berghan and Bhatti could bring unfortunately

Maine man wrote:

TJ wrote:

bsando wrote:Pivotal moment was Gibson Park coming on and the Scottish front row and Ben White going off. GP box kick for Hansen and the try was fantastic.

Rubbish from Hogg tho - didn't get off the ground

Thought it was VdM who didn't get off the ground

It was, but to be fair to him the ball was dropping right on him and Hanson was coming onto to it at speed and with a jump.

You got to say it was an amazing box kick.

Im glad Scotland play SA first in our group. The two of them might soften eachother up.

Collapse2005 wrote:Im glad Scotland play SA first in our group. The two of them might soften eachother up.

Not sure how much softening up Scotland can do to the Boks.
However I'm sure that SA could certainly soften up a few of our players, probably our Jock Boks will get roughed up a bit for having the cheek to represent another country.

Harsh to criticise Hogg. He didn’t get much clean ball, nor did VDM for that matter. Tuipulotu and Jones did and they were the standout backs for Scotland. Scotland were brutally exposed out wide but that was all thanks to the good work of the Irish pack. The technicality of play in these big test matches is becoming more and more intricate.

bsando wrote:Harsh to criticise Hogg. He didn’t get much clean ball, nor did VDM for that matter. Tuipulotu and Jones did and they were the standout backs for Scotland. Scotland were brutally exposed out wide but that was all thanks to the good work of the Irish pack. The technicality of play in these big test matches is becoming more and more intricate.

It's a fair point - VDM was so narrow because we'd been battered in the middle, sucking in defenders and giving him a lot of space to cover.

Saying that, he was still too narrow!

Random beery thoughts:

Scotland are just behind in nous and taking opportunities. I think that just comes with winning. Ireland are just a better developed rugby nation, but putting that to oneside, case in point Scotland should have made much more of van der Flier throwing in at the lineouts, as Warburton was mentioning in the comms box.

But we went toe to toe with them, and they knew they were in a game (to put it mildly).

Killer stat was from Jonno at halftime - "that's 3 visits into the Irish 22 without Scotland scoring points".

Other than that I think Huw Jones and Tuipulotu were comfortably better than Aki and Ringrose, who missed more than a few tackles.

Hugo Keenan has some moxy for a little guy. Van der Merwe was exposed in defence and well contained in attack.

Was surprised the scrums didn't go to uncontested after Healy came on. Hard to argue he's a specialist hooker.

Interesting to see Stephen Mutch is now the Ireland physio. He put me back together more than a couple of times over the years. His clinic (which Townsend had invested in personally) closed in Edinburgh through covid, unfortunately.

Best Scotsman on the day was Cottar, for his description of Hansen as "containing a whiff of a Nebraskan Truckstop" (or similar). He's not Bill Maclaren but he'll do.

And I thought Mr Pearce was good too. Nice to see him call out the chirpsing on both sides. (Ritchie and Porter)