‘Not the end’ for Scotland after Six Nations hopes end – Tuipulotu

Scotland captain Sione Tuipulotu insists it is “not the end for this group” despite a disappointing finale to their Six Nations campaign in Dublin.

The Scots went into the game against Ireland seeking a first Triple Crown since 1990, while also knowing a win could secure a first title since 1999 depending on France’s result against England later on Saturday.

However, they went behind in the third minute and did not lead at any stage, eventually losing 43-21.

Ireland – as they so often have in this fixture – won the physical battle, taking their winning streak against Scotland to 12 matches.

“My goal was to lift the Triple Crown and we didn’t get there, but there’s progress there and I don’t feel like it’s the end for this group,” Tuipulotu said. “This is a good starting point.

After a narrow loss in Rome to open their campaign, Gregor Townsend’s side bounced back with victories against England, Wales and France.

Tuipulotu says Scotland have unquestionably improved over the course of the competition, despite falling short against Ireland.

“I’ve seen what’s gone in behind the scenes and I’m proud of the boys, how they rallied this championship,” he said. “We’ve definitely made progress, there’s no doubt about that.”

Townsend came under heavy pressure after the defeat against Italy in their opener, but he too agreed with Tuipulotu’s assessment that it has been a positive tournament for his side.

“The performances we’ve delivered, especially the three victories, is some of the best rugby I’ve seen us play,” he said.

“Today it’s a reminder and a lesson. The lesson is that we have to be better when we do have opportunities. Another game for us to know what works and what we have to lean into more, double down on more.

“There were tactical and technical things we needed to improve on, which we did in the second half and we were going up against an excellent opponent, who were very good today.”

After last weekend’s exhilarating 50-40 victory over France, the question was whether Scotland could recreate such a performance at a venue with so many demons.

Townsend says it simply isn’t possible to play perfect rugby in every game.

“Ireland are a very good team,” he said. “They have an excellent record here against pretty much every team.

In his pre-match press conference, Tuipulotu spoke about how the team who dominated collisions would likely win the game.

And he stood by that assessment after the full-time whistle.

“That first 20 minutes after half-time was really positive, but they won more collision today than we did and that’s a big reason why they won the game,” he said.

“I don’t know why, but they won that area of the game and it went a long way to them winning it.”

Ireland made 448m to Scotland’s 352m and won seven turnovers to Scotland’s one.

Dan Sheehan, Caelan Doris and Tadhg Beirne were all immense as Ireland’s forward pack bested Scotland’s across the 80 minutes.

Former Scotland prop Peter Wright touched on how – in his opinion – Ireland get on the right side of referees more often than not, allowing them to win the physical battle.

“Ireland get away with a lot and if referees let them, they are right to,” he said.