Scotland win ends Irish Grand Slam dreams

EDINBURGH - Ireland's hopes of a 2001 Grand Slam were dashed when they lost 32-10 to a revitalised Scotland in a rescheduled Six Nations match at Murrayfield.

The Irish, who have not won against the Scots in Edinburgh since 1985, never found much rhythm and were outscored by four tries to one.

Scotland captain Budge Pountney, prop Tom Smith, centre John Leslie and replacement three-quarter Andrew Henderson all crossed the line for the home side.

Ireland, who earned victories over France and Italy before the foot-and-mouth epidemic in Britain forced the tournament into temporary suspension in April, slip to fourth in the championship standings, with four points from three games.

Unbeaten England top the table with eight points from four games while the Scots, who end their championship campaign with two wins in five outings, climb to third place on five points.

"We kind of owed it to ourselves today, to be honest," Scotland captain Pountney said, after being named man of the match.

"We changed a few things this week and it paid off, so well done to the coaches."

The Scotland flanker disagreed, though, that the Ireland performance had been that below-par at Murrayfield.

"No, I don't think it was that poor and we stepped up our defence quite a lot.

"They (the Irish) had a massive break during the summer (after the foot-and-mouth postponement) and to come back into the game was difficult for both teams."

The Scots crucially dominated the lineout where lock Scott Murray made an immense contribution, both on Scotland's own ball and in his ability to disrupt the Irish throw-in.

Scotland were also much the better team in the back row battle where skipper Pountney led by example.

Behind the scrum, Townsend gave his backline the edge that has been missing for some time and, with centres John Leslie and James McLaren benefiting from Townsend's quick footwork, the home midfield punched regular holes in the Irish defence.

Townsend's one blemish on the day was his place kicking, and he converted just one chance at goal with his first three attempts early on in the first half.

Scotland's back-up Chris Paterson, however, more than made up for this as he went on to kick four out of four.

For Ireland, the match was as disappointing as it was elating for their opponents.

The Irish forwards were sluggish and, behind the scrum, not even British and Irish Lions centre Brian O'Driscoll seemed capable of breaking down the fast-engaging Scotland defence.

Teams:

Scotland: 15-Glenn Metcalfe; 14-Jon Steel, 13-James McLaren, 12-John Leslie, 11-Chris Paterson; 10-Gregor Townsend, 9-Bryan Redpath; 8-Simon Taylor, 7-Budge Pountney (captain), 6-Gordon Simpson, 5-Scott Murray, 4-Jason White, 3-Mattie Stewart, 2-Gordon Bulloch, 1-Tom Smith.

Replacements: 16-Steve Scott (for Bulloch in 79th), 17-George Graham (for Stewart, 63), 18-Stuart Grimes (for White, 71), 19-Jon Petrie (for Simpson, 74), 20-Andy Nicol (for Redpath, 79), 21-Duncan Hodge (for Townsend, 79), 22-Andrew Henderson (for Leslie, 63).

Ireland: 15-Girvan Dempsey; 14-Geordan Murphy, 13-Brian O'Driscoll, 12-Shane Horgan, 11-Denis Hickie; 10-Ronan O'Gara, 9-Guy Easterby; 8-Anthony Foley, 7-Kieron Dawson, 6-Simon Easterby, 5-Malcolm O'Kelly, 4-Jeremy Davidson, 3-John Hayes, 2-Keith Wood, 1-Peter Clohessy.

Replacements: 17-Emmet Byrne (for Hayes, 41), 18-Gary Longwell (for Davidson, 73), 19-David Wallace (for Foley, 63), 20-Peter Stringer (for Guy Easterby, 54), 21-David Humphreys (for O'Gara, 63), 22-Kevin Maggs (for Murphy, 23).

Referee: Chris White

- REUTERS

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