Ireland see off plucky Scots

Joe Schmidt's men had hoped to make history this season by winning a third title back-to-back but will have to make do with back-to-back wins, following last week’s victory over Scotland.

Scotland, who defeated France last weekend, were looking for a third successive championship win for the first time in 20 years, but a poor start and continued indiscipline let them down, with two sin-bins costing them dearly.

Scotland's indiscipline began to hurt them early on, with Johnny Sexton slotting home three penalties inside the opening 20 minutes, as the visitors found themselves on the wrong side of referee Pascal Gauzere, particularly at the breakdown.

Greig Laidlaw responded with a penalty for Scotland on 15 minutes, but the home side were dominant for the majority of the first half with Sexton looking back to his inspiring best.

Somehow, Scotland were the first to touch down with a piece of magic from the in-form Glasgow full back Stuart Hogg.

Hogg gathered Conor Murray's box-kick just on the halfway line, and once he spotted the front row pairing of Mike Ross and Rory Best in his way he dummied, cut through the middle and sprinted home.

Five minutes later Scotland's discipline let them down again when John Barclay was sent to the bin for what would be a costly ten minutes.

CJ Stander punished Scotland just three minutes later, acrobatically leaping home from close range after the Irish pack pounded away at the line, and just three minutes later a second try arrived.

Sexton's left footed chip behind the Scots line looked hopeful at best, but a defensive mix up between Hogg and Tommy Seymour saw the ball bounce free and Keith Earls, on his 50th appearance for Ireland, romped home.

Laidlaw landed a penalty on the break of half time, but the traffic was all going one way.

Eight minutes after the restart Conor Murray scored his third try of the championship, nipping home once more from a yard out, to put 15 points between the sides.

Scotland's game looked over, but Richie Gray's 55th minute try showed they were up for the fight, with Tim Visser and Duncan Taylor doing well in the build up.

Just as the visitor's looked to be back in the game, they shot themselves in the foot once again.

This time it was Alex Dunbar sent to the bin for a dangerous lift tackle on Sexton, and once more Ireland were ruthless.

The hosts piled forward, and after some good play by the pack, Heaslip broke and offloaded to give Devin Toner an easy run in under the posts for his first international try.

Dunbar returned to touch down with three minutes to go, but it was too little, too late.

Man of the match: Locks Devin Toner and Donnacha Ryan were industrious for the Irish, while Jamie Heaslip was at his physical best with ball in hand. Stuart Hogg was brilliant on attack for the Scots, while captain Greig Laidlaw's service was great once again. However, our award goes to flank CJ Stander for his all-round display on attack and defence.

Moment of the match: Stuart Hogg's try in the first half was just magic and was really the standout moment of the match.

Villain of the match: There were a few yellow cards thrown around, but other than that it was a good match.

The scorers:

For Ireland:

Tries: Stander, Earls, Murray, Toner

Cons: Sexton 3

Pens: Sexton 3

For Scotland: 

Tries: Hogg, Gray, Dunbar

Cons: Laidlaw 2

Pens: Laidlaw 2

Yellow cards: John Barclay (Scotland, 25 – repeated infringements, hands in the rucks), Alex Dunbar (Scotland, 68 – dangerous play), Jonathan Sexton (Ireland, 77 – repeated infringements, coming in from the side) 

Teams:

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(captain), 1 Jack McGrath.

Replacements: 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 (captain), 8 Ryan Wilson, 7 John Hardie, 6 John Barclay, 5 Tim Swinson, 4 Richie Gray, 3 Willem Nel, 2 Ross Ford, 1 Alasdair Dickinson.

Replacements: 16 Stuart McInally, 17 Rory Sutherland, 18 Moray Low, 19 Rob Harley, 20 Josh Strauss, 21 Henry Pyrgos, 22 Pete Horne, 23 Sean Lamont.

Referee: Pascal Gauzère (France)

Assistant referees: Craig Joubert (South Africa), Alexandre Ruiz (France)

TMO: Shaun Veldsman (South Africa)