Parks' boot breaks Irish hearts
Sat, 20 Mar 2010 20:51
Big boot: Scotland star Dan Parks
Dan Parks kicked a touchline penalty with just over a minute remaining to secure Scotland's first win of the season, in the final round of Six Nations action, as they edged Ireland 23-20 at Croke Park on Saturday.
The result, apart from ensuring that Scotland do not finish last in the competition, also means that Ireland did not win the Triple Crown.
It also meant that Ireland, just as they did in their first ever game at Croke Park, end their tenure at the home of Gaelic Football in defeat.
Ireland will now return to their refurbished home at Lansdowne Road - where they will face South Africa in their first game at the new stadium in November.
Despite outscoring the Scots by two tries to one - wonderful efforts by Brian O'Driscoll and Tommy Bowe - the Irish were made to pay for their numerous errors.
The Scottish try by Johnnie Beattie was marvellous too, and Parks kicked five penalties, including the magnificent match-winning effort close to full time, plus a drop-goal to break the Irish hearts.
Happily, neither team stuck to a safety-first game plan and there was plenty of action and excitement for the enthusiastic crowd as each team in turn tried to be adventurous on attack.
Crippling for the Irish was that they won only nine of their 17 line-outs - an unacceptable statistic at this level, and they conceded 13 turnovers to the eight conceded by Scotland.
Scotland had six shots at goal from the 12 penalties given away by Ireland and succeeded with five of them, while the Scots conceded only four goalable penalties, of which Ireland goaled two. In a Test match as tight as this one was, the statistics tell a story.
Scotland opened the scoring in the sixth minute with a penalty from in front of the posts inside the 22 when Ireland slowed the ball down at a ruck and Parks slotted the goal (3-0).
Ireland hit back in the 11th minute when flyhalf Jonny Sexton passed outside to Gordon D'Arcy and ran a loop to take a return pass on D'Arcy's outside. He beat the first line of defence and played inside to O'Driscoll who raced through unchallenged for a excellently executed try under the posts. Sexton goaled the conversion and Ireland led 7-3.
Scotland responded magnificently four minutes later when they counter-attacked from a turnover won by hooker Ross Ford, who off-loaded to Beattie. He fed Graeme Morrison who ran strongly up the left touchline and committed defenders before playing inside to Beattie who had three tacklers to beat but managed to power his way through them all to score far out. Parks could not convert but the visitors had gone 8-7 ahead.
On the half hour Sexton had a chance to put Ireland ahead with a penalty from in front of the posts and within his range but he pushed it wide right.
In the 37th minute Ireland failed to roll away at a tackle in front of their posts and Parks made no mistake with
the penalty goal to put Scotland ahead 11-7.
Scotland continued to put pressure on Ireland and just before halftime, after a Beattie drive and a Sean Lamont attacking run, Parks kicked a neatly-struck drop-goal to give the Scots a 14-7 lead at the break.
There had been one try apiece but Scotland deserved their lead.
Scotland had played with enormous enthusiasm throughout the 40 minutes and Ireland perhaps lacked the intensity expected of them in their quest for a Triple Crown and their last game at Croke Park.
Sexton had an opportunity to pull points back two minutes into the second half when Scotland were penalised at a ruck, but he fluffed the chance to regain momentum for Ireland.
After a strong run by Lamont, Irish replacement fullback Rob Kearney was penalised at a ruck and in the 47th minute Parks goaled from 35 metres out to stretch Scotland's lead to 17-7.
A powerful driving maul by Ireland led to a penalty against Scotland for entering from the side of the maul and Sexton goaled from close range to reduce the lead to 17-10 after 51 minutes.
Ireland were enjoying a territorial advantage and launched wave after wave of attack but the Scottish defence held and a vital steal by replacement flank Alan MacDonald allowed Hugo Southwell to bring relief with his strong left boot.
In the 56th minute Ireland lost their fifth lineout of the game on their own throw, Paul O'Connell was penalised at a ruck, and Parks had a chance to put Scotland further ahead but his long-range kick drifted wide of the posts.
Ireland managed to get continuity going at last and, recycling the ball well, eventually broke the Scotland defence when O'Driscoll skilfully delayed his pass to D'Arcy and D'Arcy fed Bowe.
Bowe had defenders to beat, but he used his feet and strength, showing again what a great finisher he is by placing the ball across the whitewash when tackled just short of the goal-line.
Ronan O'Gara, on for Sexton at flyhalf, goaled the conversion from close to touch and it was 17-17 with 15 minutes left to play.
With seven minutes to go, Ireland were penalised at a breakdown and Parks put Scotland back in front with a kick from just to the left of the uprights (20-17).
But two minutes later Euan Murray was penalised for collapsing a scrum and O'Gara levelled the score at 20-20, also with a kick from the left of the uprights.
The came the decisive moment of the game.
From a Parks' high ball into the 22, Kearney had time to relief kick or pass to Bowe, but he tried to beat Nick de Luca and sub Simon Danielli, was caught and then penalised for not releasing in the tackle.
Parks slotted the penalty goal with a superb kick from 35 metres out and close to the touchline to put Scotland 23-20 up with time all but over.
Scotland secured the kick-off, Southwell hoofed the ball deep into
touch and the visitors had won a memorable victory.
Man of the Match: For Ireland, Tommy Bowe and Brian O'Driscoll were potent on attack and Jamie Heaslip and David Wallace effective at loose forward. For Scotland, Graeme Morrison had a superb game on attack and defence and Johnnie Beattie and John Barclay were worth gold at No.8 and flank respectively. But for his composure and decision-making and wonderfully accurate boot, the Man of the Match must be Scotland's flyhalf Dan Parks.
Moment: All three tries in the game were spectacles - each in their own way marvellously constructed, but the best of them all was Johnnie Beattie's try, which came from a turnover and excellent counter-attack. The off-load from Ford, the timing of Graeme Morrison's pass and the finishing by Beattie were all impressive indeed.
Villain: None at all worth mentioning.
The
scorers:
For Ireland:
Tries: O'Driscoll, Bowe
Cons: Sexton, O'Gara
Pens: Sexton, O'Gara
For Scotland:
Try: Beattie
Pens: Parks 5
DG: Parks
Teams
Ireland: 15 Geordan Murphy, 14 Tommy Bowe, 13 Brian O'Driscoll (captain), 12 Gordon D'Arcy, 11 Keith Earls, 10 Jonathan Sexton, 9 Tomas O'Leary, 8 Jamie Heaslip, 7 David Wallace, 6 Stephen Ferris, 5 Paul O'Connell, 4 Donncha O'Callaghan, 3 John Hayes, 2 Rory Best, 1 Cian Healy.
Replacements: 16 Sean Cronin, 17 Tony Buckley, 18 Leo Cullen, 19 Shane Jennings, 20 Eoin Reddan, 21 Ronan O'Gara, 22 Robert Kearney.
Scotland: 15 Hugo Southwell, 14 Sean Lamont, 13 Nick De Luca, 12 Graeme Morrison, 11 Max Evans, 10 Dan Parks, 9 Chris Cusiter (captain), 8 Johnnie Beattie, 7 John Barclay, 6 Kelly Brown, 5
Alastair Kellock, 4 Jim Hamilton, 3 Euan Murray, 2 Ross Ford, 1 Allan Jacobsen
Replacements: 16 Scott Lawson, 17 Alasdair Dickinson, 18 Richie Gray, 19 Alan MacDonald, 20 Mike Blair, 21 Phil Godman, 22 Simon Danielli
Referee: Jonathan Kaplan (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Craig Joubert (South Africa), Jérôme Garces (France)
TMO: Giulio De Santis (Italy)
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