Ireland power through Scotland to stay unbeaten with Prendergast to the fore

The song remains the same for Scotland. The sound of bagpipes had drifted around Murrayfield, Flower of Scotland was belted out with customary passion, and the inspirational figure of Chris Hoy even delivered the match ball. But when showtime arrived Ireland were simply too good, too physical, too precise. The reigning champions recorded an 11th straight victory over Scotland to top the table with two bonus-point wins, pleasingly poised for a third successive title.

There had been a sense of triumph in the way Hoy, diagnosed with terminal cancer last year, strode on to the pitch for an emotional pre-match ovation. Hope existed among home fans that this might, finally, be their day against Ireland. And while there were flashes of brilliance, particularly Duhan van der Merwe’s stunning finish before half-time, Scotland’s back line is not complemented by a pack that can compete with the best.

It did not help that Scotland lost their fly-half, Finn Russell, and the lightning quick wing Darcy Graham to an early clash of heads. But there was inaccuracy from the hosts too, and the scrums brought endless pain. Sam Prendergast is also growing into the role of Test fly-half, kicking 12 points and displaying intelligent distribution throughout.

“I think the fight was there until the end,” Scotland’s co-captain Rory Darge said, with Graham’s head injury being assessed in hospital. “In terms of the scoreline, it came down to errors from us … they got into our 22 too often, and a team who are as clinical as that, you’re always going to have a tough day.”

The Scotland head coach, Gregor Townsend, revealed Russell had passed his head injury assessment but that he and his coaching staff decided he should not continue. Asked if the miserable sequence against Ireland points at a systemic issue in Scottish rugby, he said: “That’s a big question. I think we have to praise Ireland with what they’ve done structurally over the past few years … they are going for something unprecedented this year, a third Six Nations title in a row, no team has done that.

“What they are doing is producing results and quality performances. We’ve unfortunately come up against them during this period, and not managed to get ahead on the scoreboard at the end.”

Or indeed the start. Inside five minutes, after a powerful first scrum, the Irish pack were rumbling downfield in the manner of a freshly serviced threshing machine. Prendergast did not need the vision of a genius to spot Calvin Nash on the right and the champions were up and running, more so when the fly-half added a sweet conversion.

Twice in the opening quarter a rampant Ireland were held up over the try-line, the second a heroic effort by Darge. The Scottish scrum was creaking, Ireland’s dynamism in the loose was dizzying. Van der Merwe was sent to the sin bin for blocking Nash before the hosts did get a breather from the Irish onslaught, albeit in unfortunate circumstances. The clash between Russell and Graham led to a long delay, the wing requiring lengthy treatment before leaving on a stretcher.

Ireland’s dominance was underlined by their second try – scored by the captain, Caelan Doris – after another crushing scrum was followed by a darting run by the scrum-half Jamison Gibson-Park. Combined with Prendergast’s early penalty, the score was 17-0.

Enter Van der Merwe, then, back from his enforced break, for a scintillating try after being fed by Stafford McDowall, on for Russell. Scotland trailed by 12 points at the break but it could have been so much worse.

When Huw Jones and Blair Kinghorn combined to roar into space soon after half-time, Ireland were wobbling, and the home fans were disgusted by the decision not to penalise Robbie Henshaw for a possible deliberate knock-on. Eventually Scotland settled for a penalty, kicked by Kinghorn, and it was a six-point game, but Simon Easterby’s side swiftly reasserted themselves.

Nifty footwork by James Lowe soon saw him skip away from Kinghorn for Ireland’s third try, and the bonus-point-clinching score was secured after fine work by Gibson‑Park, allowing Jack Conan to crash over. Ben White reduced the deficit with a sniping effort with four minutes remaining, Kinghorn converting, but the game was long gone.

“We set out at the beginning of this championship to work hard, keep getting better, keep challenging each other,” said Easterby, whose interim tenure in the absence of Andy Farrell has started convincingly.

“We’ve got to make sure we prepare in the right way for Wales, and go to the Millennium Stadium with the same sort of mindset that we came here with.”

It is the Principality Stadium in Cardiff these days, of course, but keep this form up and Ireland’s fans will readily forgive Easterby for such trivial errors.