We cannot call them champions yet, but Ireland are the best team in the world – and rarely have they looked more so. It is difficult to imagine any side facing down the setbacks they did here at Murrayfield – the home of one of the better teams in the world – and responding quite so emphatically, indeed effortlessly.
Quibblers will point to the fact that, finally, at the fourth attempt, a team have denied them the bonus point. Actually, it was Ireland themselves who did that, James Ryan spilling the ball yards short of the line, and three minutes short of the final whistle, with James Lowe outside him. Twenty points out of 20 would have been almost too much.
As it is, they return to Dublin next weekend. Two points against a hapless England would guarantee them the title – and the win a grand slam.
How they rode the disruption to their best-laid plans was the most impressive aspect of this comprehensive win over Scotland. Three forwards went down injured in the first half. Then, much of half‑time was spent trying to repair the shoulder of Ronan Kelleher, the replacement hooker. “The character was immense,” said Andy Farrell. “It wasn’t champagne rugby, but as far as fight for each other goes, that was the best game I’ve ever been involved in. If you’d seen us at half-time, you’d have laughed, because it was organised chaos. We didn’t know what was happening with Ronan till the last seconds.”
Kelleher returned for the second half but had to concede defeat after a few minutes. Turns out playing without a hooker need not be a big deal. Then, in the last 10 minutes, Ireland lost Garry Ringrose, off on a stretcher with a brain injury.
Scotland’s hopes of a first title since 1999 are over. They will host Italy next weekend, who are no one’s idea of a pushover these days. Win there, and a finish in the top half will likely be theirs. They are after more than that these days, but there can be no argument they just are not as good as Ireland. Who are?
This was a masterclass of belief and composure. Ireland suffered more than enough disruption in the first half alone to throw off a lesser team. Caelan Doris, Dan Sheehan and Iain Henderson, in that order, left injured in the first 25 minutes.
Even before they had departed there was high drama, Sheehan claiming a try in the sixth minute from a snaffled Scotland throw. George Turner had thrown in with a new ball, and the lineout was deemed a quick one. The try was disallowed on this dubious technicality. Scotland had used up a life.
Ireland came again, and this time Johnny Sexton claimed three points from a simple penalty for offside. But it was Scotland who would score the first try. Duhan van der Merwe ran back an Irish clearance and featured prominently in the waves of attack that followed. The coup de grace was applied, as so often this championship, by Huw Jones, who picked an unanswerable line off his centre partner, Sione Tuipulotu.
Ireland were not thrown by it, nor the loss of those key forwards. Just shy of the half-hour, they launched their own, virtually patented, interpretation of total, multi-wave attack. With Scotland sucked in, Mack Hansen finished athletically in the corner.
Just before the break, Scotland had opportunities to overturn Ireland’s one-point lead. After a fabulous half of Test rugby, they pressed and pressed to no avail – and that, it turns out, was their race run. Ireland had more left. The loss of their replacement hooker served merely to inspire them higher.
Josh van der Flier took over the throw-ins. Scotland pinched the first, but he settled after that. Cian Healy came on as hooker – and three props in the Ireland scrum just meant more power.
The tries followed, devastating combinations either side of the hour mark – just when it really hurts. Jamison Gibson-Park is actually Ireland’s first-choice scrum-half these days. When he was introduced after his injury lay-off, the pace increased further. His up-and-under was claimed by Hansen deep in Scotland’s 22. Phase after phase of swarming Irish attacks ensued, until Gibson-Park sent Lowe over on the left.
Sexton converted, then played his customary role in the next serious attack, his loop bewitching the Scots, before Hansen sent Jack Conan over on the right. Sexton converted that too, to draw level with Ronan O’Gara as the top points scorer in the championship’s history.
Ireland, quite suddenly, had a 15-point lead. They should have finished with more. Lowe and Gibson-Park combined to release Ryan for that late tilt at the bonus point but he could not find the killer pass.
So Ireland are not quite perfect. But 19 out of 20 is not far off.
