Simon Easterby delighted to keep Scotland ‘at arm’s length’ in Ireland victory

Simon Easterby hailed ruthless Ireland as they kept Scotland “at arm’s length” to steal a significant march in their quest to land a third consecutive Guinness Six Nations title with a bonus-point 32-18 triumph at Murrayfield.

The Irish are the only side to have won their opening two matches this season after they followed up their opening-weekend win at home to England with an 11th successive victory over the Scots.

Calvin Nash and captain Caelan Doris both scored as the Irish built a 17-0 advantage by the 32nd minute, with the Scots’ predicament not helped by having record try-scorer Duhan van der Merwe shown a 13th minute yellow card before losing two more influential backs to head injuries after Finn Russell and Darcy Graham collided with each other in the 21st minute.

Scotland rallied, with a Van der Merwe try just before half-time and two Blair Kinghorn penalties early in the second half reducing their deficit to just six points.

But Ireland reasserted their authority with scores from James Lowe and substitute Jack Conan taking the game beyond the Scots, who added a late consolation through Ben White.

“We always knew we’d have to shut them down and stop them getting time and space and momentum,” said interim head coach Easterby. “I thought we did that really well without the ball, and I felt we delivered a lot of what we’d worked on around trying to attack Scotland in the right way.

“Although we conceded a late try in the first half, I thought the scoreline was a reflection of our dominance, and maybe we could have been one or two more scores up.

“You’re always going to come up against a purple patch. We knew they were going to try and stretch us defensively. At times we dealt with it really well and at times they stretched us.

“We managed to turn around a few situations where they got a little bit of ascendancy and we kept them at arm’s length and then we had the opportunity to go to the other end and be clinical with the ball.”

England’s victory at home to France on Saturday paved the way for the winner of Sunday’s Murrayfield showdown to go clear at the top of the table, and Ireland duly capitalised ahead of their trip to struggling Wales on Saturday week.

“There is an opportunity (of a Grand Slam), which has been well documented. We’ve got to make sure that we prepare in the right way for Wales and go there with the same mindset that we came here with.”

When he faced the media after the game, Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend was unsure of the extent of the injury sustained by Graham, who lay prone on the buggy before being taken to hospital although Scottish Rugby later released an update saying the Edinburgh wing “has been released and has been diagnosed with a concussion. He will be managed in line with the concussion protocols.”

While Graham is clearly a doubt for the Calcutta Cup clash with England a week on Saturday, Townsend was hopeful that talismanic co-captain Russell would be available for the Twickenham showdown.

“He passed his HIA,” said Townsend. “It was more communication that (coach) Pete Horne and a couple of other guys on the sideline were having with him.

“There were a couple of things he wasn’t remembering about plays. So we made the call not to put him back on.

“He’s obviously frustrated. It’s a freak injury when you collide with your own player. I don’t know the protocols of passing HIA and then being pulled out. He will now be classed as a failure, delayed symptoms. I don’t know whether that will be just seven days. It’s based on his record and passing HIA too.

Reflecting on the game, Townsend said: “When you’re 17-0 down, when things haven’t gone well for you and you’ve had to make changes, you do fear that the opposition could build on that, but I was really proud of the way we came back at the end of the first half.

“I felt we were getting back into the game, and then you look at the error off the kick-off, that just gives the momentum back. Once they score another try, it’s very tough to get ahead again.”