Ireland Women 12 – Scotland 15
On the weekend were the Irish 20s and senior men defeated Scotland, with the senior men being crowned Six Nations Winners with a week to spare and the general feeling was that Ireland would make it three wins this weekend over Scotland.
Unfortunately Scotland didn’t read the script and tore into Ireland from the start and although the first half was very stop start with both sides making many mistakes and that in turn led to a 3-0 half time score line.
Let’s just the second half was a huge improvement where Scotland again began to dominate Ireland at each breakdown and although the Irish set piece was very strong , the scrum was a real weapon for Ireland but to give Scotland great credit they stuck to their task and stayed in the game with tries from Chloe Rollie and Helen Nelson , Rollie’s was a individual piece of brilliance and these two scores proved crucial and they would eventually see Scotland home to a 15-12 win , their first win over Ireland.
Looking to the Irish performance, the players will be very unhappy after the performance against Wales two weeks ago, this felt like a step back and although as I already said the scrum was the only bright spot in this game from Ireland who looked heavy legged at times and will need to be much sharper when they face England next Friday.
Adam Griggs will know his side were not at the races and will have to put in some hard work this week before they head to Coventry.
Today wasn’t the greatest day at the office but next week gives Ireland a chance to right the wrongs of this afternoon. Roll on the games in England in all three competitions.
By
Cian Mc Gibney
11/03/2018