After a week of heavy rain and high winds in Dublin the Six Nations was suddenly handed a day straight from autumn – the perfect stage then for the first championship game of the Joe Schmidt era. In response the home team made a positive contribution with the game's only three tries and their reward before the tight, six-day turnaround to facing Wales was a clean bill of health. Schmidt cleared the bench but only to spread the load a bit and by the end five players had got their first experience of the Championship.
There was no apparent reward for Scotland. As ever they went through good periods of continuous rugby but drew a blank on the try front and any other measurable criterion. Moreover it would be remarkable if Sean Maitland was fit to face England in Murrayfield next weekend. He went off with concussion but also suffered a hideous looking leg injury in the same incident – contesting a high ball with the excellent Dave Kearney.
That came just after the half- hour when Scotland were trailing 6-3 and in the game. Indeed they had gone close to scoring in the corner through Dave Denton, who did really well to rescue a shunted scrum. It did not work out, of course, and then with the last play of the half they conceded a try to Andrew Trimble, which changed the complexion of the game.
From a pressured situation 30 metres from his own sticks Johnny Sexton made a glorious break off ruck ball, stepping inside two tackles and making it as far as the Scotland 22 before throwing a fabulous pass to the man of the match, Jamie Heaslip, out wide. Max Evans, who had come on for Maitland, did well to put the Ireland captain into touch at the corner but Ireland maintained the pressure after the lineout before working the ball wide to Trimble for his 13th Test try.
"The try from Andrew was really fantastic because it came at just the right time," Schmidt said. "We'd been under the pump for a while and they had probably two thirds of the territory and possession in that first half. We had to do a lot of defending. To go down there and get a result – particularly a try and a seven-point buffer at half time – was tremendous."
For Ireland the complexion of the day had altered before they had breakfast when the captain, Paul O'Connell, cried off with a chest infection. Dan Tuohy stepped in and played well, which was an opportunity well taken as he owed his place in the squad initially to the injury to Mike McCarthy. The captaincy shifted to Heaslip, whose experience of the role was far more positive than last season. O'Connell is expected to be training fully by Thursday, with Gordon D'Arcy, who had a stomach bug, ready to go at the first session of the week.
That leaves Schmidt in a strong position in terms of selection, even if he has a day less to work with before facing Wales. This was not the most physical Test match Ireland have been through and it was the Scots who had to make more tackles – 54 in fact – as Ireland got on top in the second half and dominated without blowing the opposition off the park.
"It's frustrating because at times we looked really good," Scott Johnson said afterwards. "It's my job to see a silver lining. The irony is that they're actually doing the hard bit quite easily. It's the finishing off. That and a bit of naivety: they were up against some wily customers today. We know where we are in some positions but that's the starts of careers – I'd much rather be in the position of having the talent to create the difficult bits. I think we showed enough with those inexperienced type of players. They can compete at this level."
The longer the game went on the less apparent that became, however. Scotland had been sickened by the timing of the Trimble try in time added on and responded with Greig Laidlaw's second penalty early in the new half. There were 38 minutes left in the game at that point and Scotland did not look remotely like scoring in them. Ireland on the other hand added tries from Heaslip, off a powerful maul, and Rob Kearney soon after another Sexton penalty.
The size and experience of the Wales backline alone will offer a totally different contest on Saturday. "It's a huge challenge coming up against a team who've won the Championship two years in a row," Heaslip said. "I played with a lot of them in the summer and I know a lot about them. They're big guys. Physical guys and good footballers." And like Ireland, they have a winning start to defend.
Ireland: R Kearney; A Trimble, B O'Driscoll (F McFadden, 73), L Marshall, D Kearney; J Sexton (P Jackson, 73), C Murray (I Boss, 73); C Healy (J McGrath, 64), R Best (S Cronin, 66), M Ross (M Moore, 63), D Toner (I Henderson, 74), D Tuohy, P O'Mahony (T O'Donnell, 66), J Heaslip (capt), C Henry.
Tries: Trimble, Heaslip, R Kearney. Cons 2. Pens Sexton 3.
Scotland: S Hogg; S Maitland (M Evans, 33), A Dunbar, D Taylor (M Scott, 65), S Lamont; D Weir, G Laidlaw (C Cusiter, 74); R Grant (A Dickinson, 53), R Ford, M Low (G Cross, 66), T Swinson, J Hamilton (R Gray, 57), R Wilson, D Denton, K Brown (capt; J Beattie 57).
Pens Laidlaw 2.
Referee: C Joubert (SA). Attendance: 51,000.
