Ireland forwards laid platform for Six Nations success over Scotland, says Simon Easterby

EDINBURGH – Ireland’s marauding forwards laid the platform for the dominant 32-18 win away to Scotland in the Six Nations on Feb 9, which kept them on course for Grand Slam success as the only unbeaten side left in the tournament, said coach Simon Easterby.

He was also pleased with the contribution of 21-year-old fly-half Sam Prendergast, who added 12 points with his kicks to the four tries Ireland scored at Murrayfield.

Calvin Nash, Caelan Doris, James Lowe and Jack Conan provided Ireland’s tries, while Duhan van der Merwe and Ben White crossed the line for the Scots.

“I thought the forward pack was excellent. I think the attack was good,” Easterby told the post-match press conference.

“Our set pieces were excellent... it’s so difficult for a team to get into their rhythm when they’re getting scrappy ball when their delivery of line-outs and scrums isn’t what they’d like.

“I think that they, on both sides of the ball, in attack and defence, laid a great platform for us.

“I thought Sam Prendergast put us in the right areas more often than not and that is what you need,” he added of the young fly-half.

There was little that went wrong for Ireland in the game.

Having started slowly in their opening game against England last week, Ireland got out of the starting blocks quickly at Murrayfield and took eight minutes to score their first try as Prendergast set up Nash for the opener.

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

“I think we always knew that we’d have to shut them (Scotland) down and stop them getting time and space and momentum.

“I thought we really did that without the ball but also on attack. I felt like we delivered a lot of what we had worked on in the week around trying to attack Scotland in the right way.”

Meanwhile, Scotland coach Gregor Townsend suggested a head clash between co-captain Finn Russell and Darcy Graham may not have been as bad as first feared.

The Scotland backs collided in the 22nd minute while trying to tackle Ireland scrum-half Jamison Gibson-Park.

Neither took any further part in the defeat.

Fly-half Russell walked off the field for a head injury assessment (HIA), but wing Graham required prolonged on-field medical attention before being taken off on a stretcher ahead of a hospital examination.

“Finn is fine,” Townsend told the BBC. “He actually passed his HIA. But our staff sensed he wasn’t totally aware of what was going on, so we made the call to not put him back on.

“Darcy is at hospital now, I’ve not had an update.

“I think everything was OK with his neck but they were checking out concussion.” REUTERS, AFP