In Pictures: Ireland triumph at Murrayfield
Ireland headed to Murrayfield on the back of a surprise defeat against England in their Six Nations opener a week ago. Scotland pulled out all the stops to welcome them.
Read the full match report here.
Scotland took the early lead with Greig Laidlaw slotting a penalty. But Ireland bounced back almost immediately as the hosts fumbled. Conor Murray bundled over, but the conversion was missed.
It came against the run of play with Tommy Seymour gathering a Jacob Stockdale’s chip but under pressure from Chris Farrell, spilling the ball loose for Murray to collect and score his 13th international try.
To add to their misery, Stuart Hogg left the pitch in pain with a shoulder injury.
And then, a moment of magic from Jacob Stockdale gave Ireland the edge. From 50m out, after a nifty Johnny Sexton pass, Stockdale made it 13 tries in 16 Tests.
Joey Carbery, who had come on to replace the injured Johnny Sexton, had his pass intercepted by Finn Russell who entered into a footrace for the line with Keith Earls.
Earls dragged the fly-half to the ground but Russell showed immense awareness to pop the ball up for the onrushing Sam Johnson to finish the job and narrow the gap.
Ireland looked much more like defending champions in the second half. The Scottish defence remained tenacious, but the hosts were wasteful with possession.
In the end, the scoreline perhaps belies the gruelling effort, but the Irish found their flair and will breathe a sigh of relief.
Just as well since it’s not since 2016 Ireland lost consecutive Tests. No way were they going to let it happen at Murrayfield.
