Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend says his side still have plenty of work to do after they lost out to a terrific performance from Ireland in Dublin.
The Scots headed to Aviva Stadium knowing that a win would keep them in the hunt for the Championship title but went down 28-8 in an entertaining match.
Jacob Stockdale scored two first-half tries and Blair Kinghorn replied with one of his own, but it wasn’t to be enough as Conor Murray and Sean Cronin rounded off the victory in the second half.
“We obviously missed opportunities,” said Townsend. “We played some outstanding rugby today.
“I’m just disappointed we didn’t have one or two more tries on the scoreboard which would have made it a very interesting game in the last ten minutes.
“We all make errors but we certainly played some outstanding rugby today and caused a very good side problems.”
An intense match was expected at Aviva Stadium and so it came to pass as the two teams hammered away at each other in the first 20 minutes, Greig Laidlaw notching a penalty in the only score of the opening quarter.
Stockdale’s first try was inspired, taking his tally for the Championship to six as he intercepted Peter Horne’s pass and raced away to the posts.
His second was a classic poacher’s finish in the corner and Murray’s try at the start of the second half was similarly opportunistic, as he burst over the line from five metres out. Scotland fought back with Kinghorn’s expert finishing coming amid a spell of pressure for the away side that saw unfortunate handling errors at key moments deny any further scores.
Back came Ireland and Cronin stayed attached to a catch-and-drive in the final quarter, touching the ball down to delight the home support.
Townsend reflected on defeat by comparing his side to the victors, as well as appreciating the quality of the Championship as a whole.
“We are proud of how the team played but there is a realisation there is more work to do,” he added.
“We’re three or four years behind Ireland in terms of what they have done and achieved and their experiences of the last few years.
“We need to make sure that when we have these experiences that are tough, it goes into our work to improve. “We meet Ireland next year in the Championship and we play them in 18 months in the World Cup – we have to make sure we are a better team the next two times we play them.
“Ireland are an excellent side, England are an excellent side, Wales are an excellent side . . . it’s a brilliant championship, competitive games and different styles and the quality of opponent is really high.”
Ireland are now in the hunt for a Grand Slam at Twickenham next weekend whilst Scotland finish off their campaign away in Rome, targeting a third win of the Championship.
