The past weekend was Ireland’s weekend, which was also noticeable in Groningen, with many pubs broadcasting the Six Nations and celebrating St Patrick’s Day. Ireland needed to win against Scotland this Saturday after they lost to England, which they managed. Perhaps it was the luck of the Irish, but they also just played in the right areas of the rugby pitch.
Though Ireland had 18 (now 19) consecutive Championship wins, one might think this would be easy, but the game was tense. Scotland started off strong with Finn Russell scoring through a penalty against James Lowe (IE) in the first few minutes. However, Ireland came back only 3 minutes later with a try which a calamitous error on the Scottish side allowed.
Dan Sheehan (IE) skillfully caught the ball by its tail after it went over Grant Gilchrist’s (SC) hands from George Tuner’s (SC) throw, with Sheehan then scoring his fifth try of the championship.
There were potential tries by Tadgh Furlong and Robbie Henshaw (IE), both ruled out by the TMO. Errors by Calvin Nash and Garry Ringrose (IE) meant more gilt-edged chances for Ireland were lost.
Both sides had gotten chances in the first half, but the defence was often too strong. Stafford McDowall (SC) even skipped through a tackle by Bundee Aki (IE), but the chance quickly ended with a poor pass from Russell, which was knocked on by Duhan Van der Merwe (SC).
Not soon after, however, Ireland also had a promising position come to an end with Josh Van der Flier (IE) being held up by a choke tackle from Andy Christie (SC).
Ireland ended up with a nerve-wracking 7-6 lead at the break, which meant the game would be decided in the final quarter.
The Scottish defence gave up penalty after penalty in the third quarter, resulting in Ireland leading 10-6. They came back defending their try line ferociously, but Andrew Porter gave Ireland a 17-6 advantage by scoring another try and breaking the Scottish defence, 15 minutes before time.
It became increasingly tense when Huw Jones scored the first try of the day for Scotland in the final two minutes and Russel converted resulting in a 17-13. But they couldn’t get a final attack in, making Ireland champions yet again. This gave Peter O’Mahony, whom many believe was his last game for Ireland, the honour of lifting the Six Nations trophy in the Aviva Stadium in Dublin.
If you want to give other Irish national sports a try yourself, you can check out Groningen’s own GAA (Gaelic Football) team the Groningen Gaels.
