TWO Scottish-Irish fixtures took place over the weekend and they resulted in two Irish wins. With Scotland facing Ireland next Sunday in what is now, surely, a must-win fixture for both teams – it is the Irish who now appear to be heading into it with the all-important psychological edge.
Edinburgh travelled to Munster and lost 23-13. That was probably no more than Edinburgh supporters expected given that Munster lead the Magners League in some comfort, were playing at home and Edinburgh are struggling.
But Glasgow also lost away, to lowly Connacht by a whopping 37-8, losing the try count by five to one. This was supposed to be a basement scrap, a tight, frantic affair which would result in one of these poorly performing teams edging it but Connacht blasted Glasgow away.
While it is true that Connacht are a much, much better team than they were only two seasons ago, Glasgow have been playing quite well recently. So, to be blown away like that, to the poorest of poor relations in Irish rugby, is a major setback for Glasgow.
With Edinburgh having lost their coach in the last few weeks, been without two fly halves almost all season and having to compete minus their Scottish internationals, the trip to Munster was not really what they wanted at this stage in the season.
But, even with all stacked against them, Edinburgh played really, really well. In some ways, this game was similar to the Ireland France game the week before. Like Ireland before them, Edinburgh played well but were undone by one simple missed tackle in midfield and clinical finishing.
Munster centre Liefeimi Mafi broke the defensive line near the end of what had been a very tight game, the ball went through two pairs of hands and ended up with former All Black wing Doug Howlett who scored his second try of the night: game over.
Howlett’s first try was the ultimate sucker punch, though, coming just before half time and after a sustained period of Edinburgh pressure. Edinburgh were winning 13-6, thanks to a Geoff Cross set up by a fabulous crossfield run by the always excellent Tim Visser.
Edinburgh then upped the pace ahead of half time. The Scottish side created two golden, try-scoring opportunities but squandered them both. Chances like that don’t come very often to visiting teams in Munster. Edinburgh had two, missed them both and, in doing so, let slip their only chance of winning the game.
The first came from a delightful grubber from Edinburgh scrum half Greig Laidlaw, who had one of his best games for Edinburgh. Winger Lee Jones sprinted up the right touchline and won the race to the ball. All he had to do was gather it and scamper over for the try but the ball bobbled away from him at the last moment and the chance was lost.
A few minutes later, Edinburgh rumbled down the left. With the forwards just a couple of yards from the Munster try line the ball was popped back and left to Visser who was over the line with the ball in one hand but it squirmed away from him and that chance too, was gone.
Had both of those been taken Edinburgh would have been at least 23-6 up and maybe even 27-6 up.
As it was, Munster scored through Howlett on the stroke of half time and the teams went in 13-13.
A clear lead for Edinburgh had been wiped out and Munster never let the game slip after that, tightening up in defence, using fly half Ronan O’Gara to kick to the corners and playing the game in the Edinburgh half. An O’Gara penalty gave Munster a 16-13 lead shortly after half time and then that Howlett try was enough to kill off the game.
Edinburgh departed with a loss, no losing bonus point and another demoralising away trip to Ireland but there were positives. It was a much more feisty, controlled performance by Edinburgh than some of the appalling fare they dished up at Murrayfield before the Six Nations started.
They also played clever rugby and if it hadn’t been for Fijian number eight Netani Talei who gave away so many penalties that he allowed Munster back in the game, the score might have been much closer.
Talei is a real talent going forward but he needs to show much more discipline in the loose, handing Munster penalty after penalty on Friday night by going into the rucks at all angles and either kicking the ball away or taking out Munster players.
So, its two-nil to the Irish with just a week before the Irish national team visit Murrayfield. All the Irish teams know they can beat their Scottish counterparts and there is no fear there at all. There is certainly fear on the Scottish side, fear of being beaten at home yet again this season.
That fear of losing certainly worked for the Welsh last week. Scotland’s only hope appears to be for that fear to be such a motivating factor they harness it to play like never before this season. For they will certainly need to if they are to win next weekend.
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