Ireland cruise to dominant win away to Scotland

The three-in-a-row bid rolls on for Ireland, as does their dominance over Scotland.

It's now 11 Irish wins in a row in this fixture, and aside from a few sloppy minutes either side of half time, this 32-18 win was as comfortable as Ireland have been at Murrayfield during their eight-year unbeaten run against Gregor Townsend’s side.

Perhaps it could have been different if the home side had shown a bit more adventure during the small period when Ireland were looking rattled.

Having come from 17-0 behind, Scotland got back to 17-8 through a spectacular Duhan van der Merwe try before the break, before Blair Kinghorn knocked over another penalty just after half time.

The Scotland full-back cut the gap further on 49 minutes with a penalty in front of the posts, but even at the time it felt like the wrong call. Ireland had been desperate and ill-disciplined during that period, and a try could have been a game-changer.

The thousands of Irish fans at Murrayfield would have been relieved to just concede three points, and it was as close as Scotland got to a comeback. Within four minutes James Lowe was diving in for Ireland’s third try, while Jack Conan wrapped up the bonus-point on 57 minutes.

Ireland’s first half had been one of complete dominance. Calvin Nash (above) got their first try on eight minutes and another followed from captain Caelan Doris on the half-hour.

Scotland’s cause wasn’t helped by losing both Finn Rusell and Darcy Graham to injury after just 21 minutes, but in reality Ireland were 7-0 up and dominant even at that early stage.

Sam Prendergast kicked three of four conversions and tagged on two penalties, picking up the man of the match award in what was a comfortable first away outing as an Ireland international, while