Ireland 26
Scotland 5
Conor Murray’s try at the death secured a bonus-point win as a misfiring Ireland did the necessary to pile the pressure on France ahead of this evening’s Six Nations decider.
The replacement scrum half latched onto a wonderful James Lowe offload with the final play of the game when it looked like Ireland may have let the opportunity slip.
The French now know nothing less than a win over England in Paris tonight, and a grand slam, will be enough to secure the championship after Ireland opened up a three-point lead.
A draw and bonus point would have been enough had Ireland not secured the fourth try, and the sense of relief around the Aviva Stadium was palpable at the full-time whistle.
Tries from player of the match Dan Sheehan and Cian Healy, despite Ireland having fielded a lot of early pressure, saw Ireland lead 14-5 at the break.
When Josh van der Flier burst over the line on the hour mark, Ireland had 20 minutes to secure the fourth try, however they spent most of it defending their own line.
Scotland’s cynicism allowed Ireland one last chance, however, after Ben Smith was sin-binned for a deliberate knock-on.
This time, Ireland were able to take advantage as Lowe somehow got his arm free to offload to his scrum-half, who got low to touch down and send the stadium into raptures.
It was a tough result for Scotland, who came into the game with a chance to leapfrog England into third, as they got little reward for their endeavour.
They came out firing and penned Ireland back for long periods, Ali Price and Pierre Schoeman both making incisive early breaks but their teammates lacked the accuracy.
Ireland were clinical when they got their chance, Lowe cleverly taking a quick penalty and drawing another infringement.
From the five-metre lineout, Sheehan took the ball from the back of the maul and showed good feet to barrell his way over the line.
The second arrived just before the half hour and again it was the result of a strong set piece, with Scottish indiscipline allowing Sexton to kick to the corner again.
Again, Sheehan broke from the back of the maul and made a destructive carry, and Jack Conan was held up, illegally, inches short of the line.
The penalty advantage wasn’t needed, however, as Sheehan latched onto Leinster front row colleague Healy from the next phase and crashed over under the posts.
Scotland would come away with something from the first half, however, as the Scots turned the ball over in the ruck.
Darcy Graham ran a brilliant line to take Scotland close to the line, Hamish Watson offloaded in the tackle and Schoeman managed to burrow through a sea of bodies to touch down.
Suspicions of double movement saw it referred to the TMO, but the officials were happy to let it stand, though Blair Kinghorn, in for Finn Russell, badly missed the conversion.
The Scots sensed their chance and began the second half at an even quicker tempo, and should have closed the gap once more early on.
A fortuitous deflection off an Irish boot saw Stuart Hogg race toward the line with two teammates inside him and only Hugo Keenan to stop him.
The full back selfishly ignored them and tried to take Keenan in the corner, only to be brilliantly tackled and taken over the line.
That proved a turning point in the game, and Ireland got their third try on 60 minutes as flanker van der Flier opportunistically picked a gap.
Scotland looked to have done enough to repel Ireland after Mack Hansen had put Lowe through a gap, pushing back Caelan Doris in the tackle.
Doris’ fellow backrow has vastly improved his carrying in recent seasons, however, and he spotted a weak shoulder to squeeze through and touch down by the posts.
Scotland continued to challenge the Irish defence but, despite having lots of the ball, their discipline, particularly at scrum time, let Ireland off the hook.
With time running out, a dangerous tackle from Graham, which should have yielded a card, and Smith’s deliberate knock-on, which did, gave Ireland one final chance. This time, they took it.
Ireland: Hugo Keenan (Joey Carbery 74); Mack Hansen, Garry Ringrose, Bundee Aki (Robbie Henshaw 56), James Lowe; Johnny Sexton (captain), Jamison Gibson-Park (Conor Murray 67); Cian Healy (Dave Kilcoyne 52), Dan Sheehan (Rob Herring 63), Tadhg Furlong (Finlay Bealham 68); Tadhg Beirne, Iain Henderson (Kieran Treadwell 63); Caelan Doris, Josh van der Flier, Jack Conan (Peter O’Mahony 52)
Scotland: Stuart Hogg (captain); Darcy Graham, Chris Harris (Finn Russell 67), Sam Johnson (Mark Bennett 61), Kyle Steyn; Blair Kinghorn, Ali Price (Ben White 61 (yellow card 78)); Pierre Schoeman (Allan Dell 74), George Turner (Fraser Brown 52), Zander Fagerson (WP Nel 55); Jonny Gray, Grant Gilchrist (Sam Skinner 52); Rory Darge, Hamish Watson, Matt Fagerson (Josh Bayliss 63).
Referee: Wayne Barnes (England).
