The 42 Reports from Murrayfield

Scotland 18

Ireland 32

THE IRISH DOMINANCE continues. One irate Scotland fan near the press box had left before the game was even in its final 15 minutes. To be fair, Ireland already had their bonus point wrapped up, as well as their 11th consecutive win against the Scots.

Interim head coach Simon Easterby’s side will be very pleased to make it two bonus-point wins from two so far in this Six Nations, leaving them in prime position to go after the title and perhaps a Grand Slam.

These are still early days but Ireland were impressive for large parts of this game, starting at breakneck speed to hush Murrayfield and leave the Scots chasing. Gregor Townsend’s men had a purple patch early in the second half but were a clear second-best.

Andy Farrell was in attendance in his guise as Lions boss and Irish players won all of the big battles. Hugo Keenan excelled as Blair Kinghorn struggled, Caelan Doris was to the fore with leadership by example against the relatively quiet Scottish back row, Andrew Porter, Rónan Kelleher, and Finlay Bealham earned credit in the front row, the second-row pairing of Tadhg Beirne and James Ryan excelled, while player of the match Sam Prendergast shone at out-half on an afternoon when Finn Russell had to exit early due to a head injury. There were others who impressed too.

Ireland had their win wrapped up so early that they were able to experiment by sending Jack Crowley on at fullback, with Keenan shifting to the right wing after Calvin Nash had delivered a try-scoring performance in the number 14 shirt.

Doris, James Lowe, and Jack Conan added tries to Nash’s opening effort, while Prendergast kicked 12 points from the tee for Easterby’s side as part of his clever, controlled performance in the number 10 jersey alongside the influential, hard-working, and inventive Jamison Gibson-Park.