The one that got away

After A calamitous start, the Irish A team endured one of the most frustrating 80 minutes imaginable at a sodden Donnybrook yesterday evening. Behind throughout, they clawed their way back into the game, but on a cloying surface the Irish were kept out by one of those irritatingly adhesive performances which are a forte of the Scots.

Though an incessant pre-match and first-half downpour relented on cue for the second-half, much of the damage had already been done. Ireland grew better as the match wore on, and forced the Scots onto the defensive for much of the second period, but the surface slowed down the runners and a host of chances went a begging. This was one that got away. Manager Ray Coughlan and coach Davey Haslett grew increasingly irritated as the minutes ebbed by, but afterwards they were far from crestfallen. "I'd like to differentiate between being disappointed and despondent," said Haslett. "I'm not despondent. We are making progress and a number of players performed very well."

Understandably, they singled out the in-form Bristol out-half Paul Burke, who fed off a crisp supply from Stephen Bell to control the game with some inch-perfect linekicking to give Ireland the majority of the put-ins. He also moved the ball well and despite some midfield sluggishness, it was hard to dispute Coughlan's theory that on a dryer day the strike runners would have made the decisive breakthrough.

However, if the long-range penalty and penalties to touch had been given to the heftier boot of Michael Lynch, there might well have been a different outcome.

The pack rose well to the abrasive challenge presented by a Scottish pack who revelled in the rain and hungrily devoured the innumerable balls on the deck. The turbo-charged Justin Fitzpatrick did his credentials no harm, and when the going gets dirty, the honest-as-the-day-is-long, mullicker Mick Galwey gets going.

David Erskine made little or no yardage early on, but ultimately did a lot of good work. Similarly too, Kevin Nowlan overcame a dodgy start to make an impressive impact on the game. His counter-attacking, runs into the line, improved positioning and typically brave work under the high ball contrasted sharply with the laboured Hugh Gilmour and did much to turn the tide.

Indeed, playing with the tide was probably the Scots' call on the tossup. The new Donnybrook floodlights illuminated a bleak evening and the 5.00 p.m. kick-off was hardly designed to ensure the biggest possible attendance.

Any late arrivals yesterday would have missed the highlight of the first-half, and indeed the only try of the match, which came within 25 seconds of Paul Burke's kick-off. Unfortunately, the next time an Irish player touched the ball was when Burke kicked off again.

The Scots mauled the first kick-off back at Ireland, and when Bryan Redpath explored the blind side, his flat, cut-out pass took out two opponents to send Shaun Longstaff clear from inside half-way. He stepped around Kevin Nowlan on the outside with disconcerting ease to score in the corner.

Although Ireland had the better of things territorially - their kick-andchase game was much superior - the Scots were getting more of the chances. Loss of control at a five-metre scrum, which the Scots had already collapsed, saw one Irish opportunity slip by. The Scots (three of whom were yellow carded) were full of their old tricks; obstruction off the ball here, a late tackle there, advancing to tackle within a metre of a quick tap - and that was just in one 10-second spell.

However, after scorning a couple of penalties, Duncan Hodge eventually landed kicks either side of the break in response to Paul Burke's 28th-minute penalty to make it 11-3. Thereafter, they played risk-free rugby with no pretense to anything expansive.

Ireland took the game to them, inching their way back to within one kick, courtesy of two more penalties by Burke. Darragh O'Mahony (twice) and Nowlan almost broke through, but a crooked throw and loose ruck ball let the Scots off the hook before Burke was short from long-range.

Right at the death, a sustained wave of attacks saw Hodge blatantly take out Nowlan off the ball as the Scots lived offside and culminated in Erskine dummying inside to Nowlan when maybe the pass would have stolen the win. Except it would have been no steal.