Ireland see off Scotland

Ireland finished their Six Nations campaign on a high with a 35-25 victory over Scotland in Dublin on Saturday.

The hosts outscored their opponents by four tries to three to win just their second match of the tournament.

Scotland erased a nine-point deficit to lead 10-9, but then conceded two tries in quick succession after flank John Barclay was sin-binned to trail 21-13 at the interval.

Ireland crossed for the opening try of the second half when Conor Murray dotted down, but Scotland replied through lock Richie Gray to keep the deficit down to eight. Ill-discipline then again cost the Scots when Alex Dunbar was sent off for a dangerous tackle on Johnny Sexton and Ireland pounced when they had a man over to score the fourth and final five-pointer.

Dunbar made amends for his earlier mistake with a late converted try, but the damage was already done.

Ireland – Tries: CJ Stander, Keith Earls, Conor Murray, Devin Toner. Conversions: Johnny Sexton (3). Penalties: Sexton (3).
Scotland – Tries: Stuart Hogg, Richie Gray, Alex Dunbar. Conversions: Greig Laidlaw (2). Penalties: Laidlaw (2).

Ireland – 15 Simon Zebo, 14 Andrew Trimble, 13 Jared Payne, 12 Robbie Henshaw, 11 Keith Earls, 10 Jonathan Sexton, 9 Conor Murray,  8 Jamie Heaslip, 7 Tommy O'Donnell, 6 CJ Stander, 5 Devin Toner, 4 Donnacha Ryan, 3 Mike Ross, 2 Rory Best (c), 1 Jack McGrath.
Subs: 16 Richardt Strauss, 17 Cian Healy, 18 Nathan White, 19 Ultan Dillane, 20 Rhys Ruddock, 21 Eoin Reddan, 22 Ian Madigan, 23 Fergus McFadden.

Scotland – 15 Stuart Hogg, 14 Tommy Seymour, 13 Duncan Taylor, 12 Alex Dunbar, 11 Tim Visser, 10 Duncan Weir, 9 Greig Laidlaw (c), 8 Ryan Wilson, 7 John Hardie, 6 John Barclay, 5 Tim Swinson, 4 Richie Gray, 3 Willem Nel, 2 Ross Ford, 1 Alasdair Dickinson.
Subs: 16 Stuart McInally, 17 Rory Sutherland, 18 Moray Low, 19 Rob Harley, 20 Josh Strauss, 21 Henry Pyrgos, 22 Pete Horne, 23 Sean Lamont.

Photo: Caroline Quinn/AFP Photo

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