Six Nations: ‘Shot at history passes Scotland by amid Irish ferocity’

With six minutes left in this recurring Scottish nightmare, Ireland were 15 points ahead; It was a fair reflection of the brutality they inflicted on the away team and a reward for the relentless physical pressure on both sides of the ball.

The guest team took the penalty while in contact. Hopes of chasing the Irish devils from their gates were gone, but there was a crumbling chance with the arrival of a five-metre innings. The shot at the four-try bonus point was still available. It’s anything but a consolation for a brutally challenging game.

They skipped through the stages, gave everything but got nothing. Half a dozen players and more had a blast. He was pushed back at every opportunity. You felt them and suspected that this period of repression would end the way so many others have over the years.

Tadhg Beirne went for the kill. A split second opportunity and he turned it down. It’s him again. Aviva greeted him in a way that would have made Scotland curse him.

Scotland lifted off the ground and they exploded. It was completely spent. As he reached for the mountain pile, it was as if Beirne also reached into their souls, and this movement brought a moment of clarity.

How can Scotland beat Ireland when Ireland have such a dogged insistence on being so good at this game?

Beirne’s retirement will help. All of Scotland will contribute towards a gift. He’s been an absolute giant in this game in the past and he was again on Saturday. He is 34 but the bad news for Scotland is that he shows no signs of slowing down.

Beirne wasn’t the player of the match – that was Caelan Doris – but it could have been him or Stu McCloskey or anyone else – but he was hugely effective, a symbol of what Ireland have in abundance and Scotland don’t have enough of – power, aggression and ruthlessness at every opportunity.

Grant Gilchrist and Max Williamson made big changes but you wonder what might have happened if Scott Cummings and Gregor Brown had been there.

Maybe nothing. Maybe something. Who knows? Of course they would have extra dogs. So are there enough dogs to keep Irish Rottweilers quiet? Suspicious.

There were too many weak points in Scotland’s game, too many wasted chances, too many balls thrown into the pile, too much defensive fragility at crucial moments, too much passivity in the early attack.

Was it too much to hope that they could go again after the magnitude of their victory against France? Maybe.