Scotland 19-20 Ireland
The Ireland Under-20s squeezed to a narrow victory over Scotland in their opening Six Nations clash at Broadwood Stadium.
Nigel Carolan’s side looked to be second best for long periods and were guilty of making too many unforced errors but tries from Tadgh McElroy and Paul Boyle proved to be the difference.
Scotland started with real intent and rocked Ireland during the early exchanges so it was no surprise when they opened the scoring after nine minutes through a Cameron Hutchison try.
A Scottish maul drove deep into Irish territory and when the ball was fed inside to Hutchison he was strong enough to drive over the line, before Josh Henderson converted.
Ireland slowly worked their way into the game and a brace of penalties from Johnny McPhillips cut the lead down to a point.
However Ireland were showing a lack of discipline and struggling at line-outs and in the scrum. They gifted the Scots two penalties, which Henderson converted to give the home side a 13-6 lead at the break.
Carolan may have had some harsh words for his charges at half-time and they appeared to make an immediate impact as they tore into Scotland from the re-start.
The visitors were awarded a penalty in a kickable position in the 42nd minute but bravely opted to go for the line and it proved to be the right call as Ireland pushed Scotland back with their maul before Tadgh McElroy punched through the defence to touch down.
McPhillips converted to level the scores at 13-13.
Ireland would have hoped to kick on from that try but again their lack of discipline cost them as they gave away more needless penalties
The visitors were struggling in the scum and conceded a penalty in front of the posts which Henderson tapped over to re-establish the Scottish lead.
Henderson was on the mark again after 61 minutes, kicking over from in front of the posts after Ireland were pinged for not rolling away.
Scotland were in the ascendancy by now and had Ireland penned back inside their own half but two fine tackles from McPhillips helped to lift the pressure and allowed Ireland to apply some of their own.
The home side buckled under that pressure as Ireland set up camp just yards from the Scottish line and it was Paul Boyle who wriggled his way through to get over the line before McPhillips kicked the conversion to give Ireland a 20-19 lead with just eight minutes to go.
Scotland laid siege inside the Irish half in the dying stages of the match and that pressure appeared to pay off when Ireland were penalised on the 10-yard line but Henderson’s kick drifted just wide and Ireland would hang on to claim victory.
