Ireland outclass Scotland in dominant Six Nations win at Murrayfield

Following their victory over England last weekend, they made it two from two in 2025 with another impressive display.

Ireland effectively controlled the match from start to finish, going 17-0 in front via Calvin Nash and Caelan Doris tries after half-an-hour, while Sam Prendergast added seven points off the tee.

There was a brief surge from the Scots as Duhan van der Merwe touched down and Blair Kinghorn kicked two penalties, but further scores via James Lowe and Jack Conan secured another bonus-point victory for the Six Nations title holders.

After a slow start in their Six Nations opener against England, Ireland were quite the opposite in the early stages of this encounter. They were fast out of the blocks, playing at a tempo and intensity which the hosts simply could not deal with.

Easterby's charges were hugely impressive and Robbie Henshaw set the tone with a powerful drive through the heart of the Scottish defence. They then moved the ball through the phases with typical accuracy, forcing their opponents to infringe twice deep inside their own 22.

Instead of going for the posts, the visitors went for the jugular and their bravery was rewarded when Prendergast's long pass was collected and finished by Nash, who was a late replacement for Mack Hansen.

It was an outstanding opening to the game from Ireland and they continued to dominate as pretty much everything went wrong for Scotland.

Their only success came at the lineout, with the Irishmen not helped by quick fire HIAs for Tadhg Beirne and then his replacement, Ryan Baird.

However, it was not enough to alter the momentum with all the chances being created by the back-to-back defending champions. The Scots were perhaps fortunate not to concede a penalty try when Duhan van der Merwe impeded Nash, but it did result in a yellow card for the gargantuan wing.

Ireland were also held up twice over the line by the desperate hosts, who did well to keep their tryline intact for the next 20 minutes.

That was until captain Doris found his way across the whitewash. By that point, Prendergast had extended their lead off the tee and Scotland had seen Darcy Graham and Finn Russell both go off with head injuries after a nasty collision, but the Irishmen's second try was nothing less than they deserved.

Once again, their young fly-half was at the heart of it when he broke down the left-hand side. He decided not to throw the off-load and it proved to be the correct decision as his captain was on hand a phase later to touch down.

Scotland had been comprehensively outplayed and the loss of Russell certainly did not help matters, but they at least got themselves on the scoreboard on the stroke of half-time thanks to Van der Merwe's brilliant finish.

Considering how the opening period went, it seemed like just a bump in the road for an Ireland side in complete control, but Scotland appeared revitalised at the start of the second half.

Kinghorn immediately reduced the arrears with a penalty and, following a stunning Huw Jones break, the full-back added another off the tee.

All of a sudden, Scotland found themselves back in the contest and within a converted try of their opponents, but that threat was only brief and Ireland soon re-established their dominance to put the game out of the home side's reach.

Lowe, Doris and Jamison Gibson-Park set up a fine position and it was capitalised on by the left wing as he showed his strength to cross the whitewash.

Then came the decisive blow as with a quarter of the match remaining Easterby's men killed off the contest when Gibson-Park™s utterly stunning kick was collected by Hugo Keenan. Although the full-back was hauled down just short, Conan was on hand to go over and secure their second win.

Prendergast then added a three-pointer to extend Ireland's lead before Scotland had the final word through Ben White's late try.

However, it was barely a consolation score given the title ambitions they had before the tournament. Instead, they succumbed for the 11th successive time to Ireland.

The teams

Scotland: 15 Blair Kinghorn, 14 Darcy Graham, 13 Huw Jones, 12 Tom Jordan, 11 Duhan van der Merwe, 10 Finn Russell (cc), 9 Ben White, 8 Jack Dempsey, 7 Rory Darge (cc), 6 Matt Fagerson, 5 Grant Gilchrist, 4 Jonny Gray, 3 Zander Fagerson, 2 Dave Cherry, 1 Rory Sutherland

Replacements: 16 Ewan Ashman, 17 Pierre Schoeman, 18 Will Hurd, 19 Sam Skinner, 20 Gregor Brown, 21 Jamie Ritchie, 22 Jamie Dobie, 23 Stafford McDowall

Ireland: 15 Hugo Keenan, 14 Calvin Nash, 13 Robbie Henshaw, 12 Bundee Aki, 11 James Lowe, 10 Sam Prendergast, 9 Jamison Gibson-Park, 8 Caelan Doris (c), 7 Josh van der Flier, 6 Peter O'Mahony, 5 Tadhg Beirne, 4 James Ryan, 3 Finlay Bealham, 2 Ronan Kelleher, 1 Andrew Porter

Replacements: 16 Dan Sheehan, 17 Cian Healy, 18 Thomas Clarkson, 19 Ryan Baird, 20 Jack Conan, 21 Conor Murray, 22 Jack Crowley, 23 Garry Ringrose

Referee: James Doleman (New Zealand)

Assistant Referees: Ben O'Keeffe (New Zealand), Pierre Brousset (France)

TMO: Richard Kelly (New Zealand)