Ireland seal Triple Crown and keep Six Nations hopes alive with thrilling win over Scotland at Aviva Stadium

SCOTLAND thought Ireland were there for the taking – but Ireland took what was theirs and wrapped up another Triple Crown. 

Andy Farrell’s men ended the Six Nations on a high by securing another Triple Crown – the 15th in Ireland’s history – with a convincing 43-21 victory over the Scots. 

And, while not entirely routine, it continued the modern tradition of turning up and beating the Thistles, having now won 12 games in a row, and 16 of the last 17.

Scotland wing Darcy Graham claimed during the week that Ireland were “there for the taking.” He must be taking the p*** given the ridiculous record. 

And the win may yet lead to another Championship success later tonight if England can do Ireland a favour against France in Paris. 

But the Aviva this afternoon was not letting that delay the party starting with the roof raised long before Tommy O’Brien scored his second and Ireland’s sixth try in the last minute. 

That added some gloss to a victory that never really looked in doubt with the home side, who started the Six Nations so poorly against France, finished with four straight wins.

Not all of the victories were impressive, nor were all as comprehensive as today’s, but Ireland delivered when it mattered to land another Triple Crown. 

And the platform was laid early with a brilliant start, both in attack and defence. 

Ireland got off to a flyer winning a penalty in the opening scrum thanks to Tom O’Toole and kicking to touch for a five-metre line-out. 

And from there, they scored quickly as Joe McCarthy leapt high to catch the ball and Robert Balououne made ground before the ball was recycled for Jamie Osborne to go over.

The second try after eight minutes had a similar look. 

Another penalty was kicked to touch for a five-metre line-out – though Jack Crowley did have some luck as he appeared to slice his kick.

Again, McCarthy was the target in the lineout before Dan Sheehan took the ball off the back of the ruck to go over for the easy points. 

And Ireland’s third try on 19 minutes was again brilliantly worked off a set-piece. 

McCarthy – again – was involved, winning a scrum when he held up a maul, to set it all up. 

With the whole width of the pitch to work with, Jamison Gibson-Park fed the ball out to Garry Ringrose who passed short for Stuart McCloskey. 

His long looper pass out to the right wing to Baloucoune took out most of the Scottish defence and left Graham, ahem, there for the taking. 

Baloucoune is in such good form that there was to be no denying him as he reached across the line to ground the ball despite Graham’s best efforts to stop him. 

Crowley did miss the conversion – his only miss of the first half – but by that stage, Ireland were well on the way. 

Scotland arrived in Dublin confident that they had an attack to trouble Ireland but it was their defence that kept letting them down. 

And other than an opening try that momentarily levelled the game when Graham finished a lovely backrow move after Ireland had been pushed back through 19 phases, they struggled.

They had moments but found Ulstermen making key defensive contributions at big moments when Scotland did get inside Ireland’s 22. 

McCloskey continued his storming Championship with a bone shuddering tackle that dislodged the ball from Kyle Steyn’s hands that ended one promising Scottish attack.

And O’Toole – looking at home at loosehead in the scrum – won a penalty with a great poach inside Ireland’s own five-metre line to deny the Scots on another occasion. 

That Ireland failed to secure the bonus point before half-time was also more down to their own errors that the visitors’ defending. 

One entry to the 22 was ended by a careless obstruction giving up a penalty, and another by a grubber kick from Crowley that bounced wrong.

Those missed opportunities were disappointing, and ensured that Scotland went in at half-time knowing that they were still in the game. 

And they began the second half powerfully to pull a score back when Finn Russell slipped under Jamison Gibson-Park with a close range run on 53 minutes. 

Yet Ireland fans were soon cheering as debut lock Darragh Murray – only on moments earlier as a blood sub for Tadhg Beirne – capped his day with a try. 

The 23-year-old Connacht lock backed himself when he stood in as deputy scrum half at the back of a ruck three metres out and lunged for the line and the big score. 

That guaranteed a bonus point for Ireland, but the win was still in the balance.

And Scotland stormed back to cut the lead to five again when Rory Darge scored after a great break from Kleyn.

Yet with 12 minutes to go, Ireland extended their lead back out to 12 points thanks to O’Brien. 

The winger moved to his more familiar right side after Ireland emptied the bench bringing on five players just two minutes later. 

And he then sprinted over after a fine back row move as Crowley and replacement Ciaran Frawley drew the Scottish cover before slipping the Leinster man through for an easy try.

Crowley nailed the conversion and added a penalty five minutes later to bring the lead out to 15 points, and there was no way back for the Scots from that. 

Scotland still had a chance but that was extinguished four minutes from time when Tadhg Beirne forced a penalty inside the Ireland five metre line. 

There was no way the Scots would enough possessions then to score the points required to win then and the Aviva was in full on party mode.

But there was still more to celebrate as Scottish captain Sione Tuipulotu inexplicably dropped the ball and McCloskey quickly fed O’Brien for try No. 6. 

It capped a Triple Crown success, now to see if it also leads to a Six Nations.