Irish Students 17 Scottish Students 12:Ireland won the Triple Crown at Donnybrook last night with a hard-earned victory over Scotland. The decision was in doubt until Kieran Lewis grabbed his second try five minutes before the end and even then Ireland had to weather intense Scottish pressure until the final whistle 11 minutes later.
There were several outstanding Irish performances not least Peter Bracken, Tom Hayes and Richard Woods up front and David Quinlan, Lewis and Simon Keogh behind the scrum.
English referee Roy Maybank had a huge influence on affairs and after an initial burst of penalties to the home side he deemed Ireland were almost exclusively the transgressors from then on: several of his decisions beggared belief.
Ireland created the clearer cut scoring opportunities in the first 40 minutes but could only manage one try, albeit a superbly engineered score. Centre David Quinlan repeatedly breached the initial defence but could not capitalise on the fine approach work.
Scotland, in contrast, enjoyed territorial domination but found the Irish defence particularly parsimonious. They were limited to a brace of penalty chances neither of which outhalf Clark Laidlaw - a son of former international scrumhalf Roy - could convert.
His Irish counterpart Shane Moore gave the home side the lead with a well-struck penalty inside a minute before they increased that advantage on 13 minutes. Tom Hayes did very well in the lineout and charged 15 metres. From the ruck, Moore threw a long pass to Lewis and the St Mary's centre glided through a gap before unloading to Simon Keogh. Ireland's left wing raced clear, bounced Scottish full back Keith Davidson in the tackle, and raced 50 metres for a try.
Moore kicked an excellent conversion but would fail with three subsequent penalty opportunities. Laidlaw kicked his first penalty four minutes after the interval and another on 62 minutes to reduce the deficit to 10-6.
The Scots injected greater pace into the game and the home side looked increasingly stretched. Laidlaw kicked a third penalty while Moore failed with a fourth attempt soon after. It was fitting that Quinlan should produce the second half's seminal moment - Tom Hayes had secured a Scottish throw brilliantly - bursting through the defence on a short ball before timing his pass superbly for Lewis to race over. Moore converted to put Ireland 17-9 ahead. Laidlaw added his fourth penalty but to no avail.
Scoring sequence. 1 min: Moore penalty, 3-0; 13 mins: Keogh try, Moore con, 10-0. Half-time: 10-0. 44 mins: Laidlaw penalty, 10-3; 63 mins: Laidlaw penalty, 10-6; 71 mins: Laidlaw penalty, 10-9. 75 mins: Lewis try, Moore con, 17-9; 80 mins: Laidlaw penalty, 17-12.
IRELAND STUDENTS: D O'Sullivan (UCD); G Brown (Blackrock), K Lewis (St Mary's), D Quinlan (Blackrock), S Keogh (Old Belvedere); S Moore (UCD, capt), E Reddan (Young Munster); R McCormack (Buccaneers), J Flannery (Galwegians), P Bracken (Galwegians); T Hogan (Blackrock), T Hayes (Shannon); A McCullen (Lansdowne), D Dillon (UCD), R Woods (Blackrock). Replacements: N Breslin (UCD) for Hogan 35 mins; J Fogarty (Cork Con) for Flannery 61 mins; A O'Brien (UCD) for McCormack 69 mins; .
SCOTLAND STUDENTS: K DAVIDSON (Edinburgh); C Keenan (Boroughmuir), G Kiddie (Glasgow), J Stuart (Glasgow), J Craig (Glasgow); C Laidlaw (Jed Forest), I Fairley (Edinburgh); G Whittingham (Edinburgh), C di Ciacca (Edinburgh, capt), J Brannigan (Edinburg h); A Hall (Glasgow), C Hamilton (Newcastle); A Rennick (Northampton), R McKay (Glasgow Hawks), N McKenzie (Glasgow Hawks). Replacements: G Lawson (Heriot's FP) for Kiddie 50 mins; O Brown (Boroughmuir) for McKenzie 57 mins; A Davidson (Glasgow) for A Ha ll 62 minutes); D Hall (Glasgow) for Di Ciacca 69 mins; B Douglas for Brannigan 69 mins.
Referee: R Maybank (England).
