‘Ireland live rent free in Scotland’s heads – again’

Scottish Rugby could do worse than a giant Peter O’Mahony pinata hanging from the lower reaches of the Murrayfield Stadium as they try to find new ways to increase revenue.

They’d be queuing round the block to give Scotland’s great bogey man some stick. A fortune could be made.

On Sunday, O’Mahony wasn’t as influential or as objectionable, to Scottish eyes, as he normally is, but the mere fact that the veteran forward was there had a psychological relevance.

Another day saw Ireland live rent-free in Scottish heads before proceeding to wreck the joint.

Scotland was the hardest hit by it all because of its roaring predictability. Nothing about this latest defeat was surprising.

With only eight minutes to go until Ireland scored at Murrayfield, Sam Prendergast, a cynical, and with a penalty advantage, threw a long left-to-right pass to Calvin Nash, all at his lonesome.

In Scotland’s grim history in this contest, it was an entirely familiar occurrence, one you could have set your watch by. Dan Sheehan, James Lowe, Robbie Henshaw, Johnny Sexton, James Ryan and Conor Murray have all scored early against Scotland in recent years.

At the 2019 World Cup in Paris, Lowe scored after two minutes. Four years prior, Ryan was in Yokohama for seven minutes. In 2021, Hanshaw played eight minutes at Murrayfield.

None of those scores came later than the 13th minute and all of them, of course, set Ireland on their way to victory.

So, when Nash touched down in the corner on Sunday, those with a half-decent memory and a fatalistic bent started to lose all hope for Townsend’s team. The day became even more gloomy due to Finn Russell and Darcy Graham’s injuries.

This was more of the same. Not quite as awful as Yokohama or Paris, but close enough.

To be 17-0 down after 31 minutes at home was mortifying, but the reality was that it could and should have been more. Ireland were held up over the Scotland line twice, with one clear penalty try being denied to them.

They didn’t just quieten the home crowd, they stunned them into silence.

Ireland went direct with menace. Not many airs, not many graces. No need. Just venomous carries from their big units and gainline, gainline, gainline.

This Ireland team’s physical prowess are matched only by its leaders’ intelligence and game awareness. They are a coherent and efficient force, brilliantly organised. Attritional and relentless.

Scotland and Ireland have been the grizzlies waiting at falls-edge to eat them up for 11 games in a row.

Townsend’s team worship at the altar of width. They rarely see their wonderful attackers break down defenses, but they do so when they are attacking Ireland. They rely on Hollywood moments and quick ball.

There is no other way for them under Townsend. It’s Hollywood or bust.

Ireland advances and advances continue to advance. That’s what they do.

In addition to limiting the Scots, they have the ability to shut down their opponents, rendering their dangermen largely irrelevant in the suffocating intensity of their game.

Consider this: under Townsend, Scotland have scored an average of 13 points in their games against South Africa with an average of 18 against Wales, 20 against France and New Zealand, 23 against England and 27 against Australia.

Townsend will suffer criticism for their most recent defeat because of how poorly played they were playing the same style of rugby that has always seen them defeated by Ireland. The majority of people predicted an away win, but Townsend will also suffer.

On Townsend’s watch, Scotland have won five out of seven against England, with one draw. They have won both of their previous home victories over France and have defeated Wales five times in a row.

They defeated the Wallabies four out of five times, and they did so up until the very end, losing one by five and the other by eight. But Ireland? It’s a recurring nightmare.

There was a list of things Scotland had to do and couldn’t do that was nearly as long as the Corstorphine Road. Stifled, again. Unable to handle Ireland’s pressure, again. Error-ridden, again.

Blair Kinghorn might have played for the world’s best team, but he didn’t have as many strong protectors as he does at Toulouse. One of his worst days wearing a Scotland jersey was at full back. The green shirt is not just for a talented athlete, but it is also his kryptonite.

Scotland needed more aggression, more belligerence, more directness, but they cannot live with Ireland in those areas. They don’t have enough heavies. This team has a certain degree of nasty behavior, which is a part of the issue.

Scotland can win, or at least be competitive, against most nations these days because their backs can have a devastating impact, but against the unrelenting Ireland machine, it’s a different story.

Townsend would not have started with the second second row he started with if Sione Tuipulotu’s dominant presence in the middle had been uninjured at the time.

When they are back on their feet, the present, and future, in the second row are Scott Cummings and Max Williamson along with Gregor Brown and Cameron Henderson.

Scotland need more thunder, more brutes. They require monsters to defeat enemies like Ireland on the gainline and hammer them backwards to advance.

When Grant Gilchrist and Jonny Gray, who are both excellent players, are involved, they lack nothing but the carries or the force from their locks.

You can add Andy Onyeama-Christie into the mix of sadly absent warriors. Whether from the start or off the bench, the back row is part of the solution.

The Saracens forward had a fantastic edge in a game that ended in the wire last year and had only four points to play. He finished with 31 tackles. So, there is a cavalry, but it’s stricken right now.

We won’t see them this Six Nations, which is painful, because it’s England away next and the odds are against Scotland making it five in a row.

England are not Ireland, though. The hope is real, and the psychology is different.

Before the whistle whistle whistle at Twickenham, Scotland will not be let down. That was the suspicion on Sunday.