On what could have been an historic day in Dublin, Scotland saw their hopes of winning the Six Nations crushed under a green fist.
Ambitions of claiming a first championship since 1999? Gone. The Triple Crown? Ripped away from them in brutal fashion.
Gregor Townsend’s winless run against Ireland now extends to 12 matches. The sense of total deflation about this latest defeat was heightened by the fact that so much was on the line.
We thought Scotland had turned a significant corner last week with the stunning victory over France. One major step forward, followed by two or three back in the opposite direction.
There is a wicked romance to be found in following Scotland. They build us up, they make us dream that something special could be possible, then they break our heart.
They might never get a better chance than this. But there were parts of this game, especially in the first half, where you felt like you were watching the same movie for the 100th time.
Finn Russell and his dejected Scotland team-mates dwell on their Dublin disappointment
Scotland never came out the blocks anywhere near quickly enough and, although they were better in the second half, they had too much to do.
Ireland are a team who continue to be Townsend’s kryptonite. He will be haunted by these demons forever, the fact that Scotland couldn’t hold up their end of the bargain and at least ask the question of France.
With a crowd of 50,000 bathed in glorious sunshine, the Fields of Athenry echoed out around the stadium shortly before kick-off.
The bars emptied shortly after lunchtime and a stream of green and blue flowed from the city centre out towards The Aviva.
The conditions were perfect for a game of fast, flowing rugby. There hasn’t been many of those over the years in this fixture as Ireland have so often dominated with their physicality and efficiency.
The first half almost felt like a rinse and repeat of near enough every match we have witnessed between these two teams over the last decade.
Ireland were clinical, maximising every entry into Scotland’s 22 and scoring three tries in the opening 20 minutes.
Ireland celebrate their Triple Crown success after extending their dominance over Scotland
Scotland’s defence was porous. Take the final 15 minutes against France last week and the first 20 of this match; they had shipped seven tries in just over half an hour of rugby.
In a contest where they knew every area of their game would have to be squeaky clean in order to win, handing Ireland that kind of headstart was no recipe for success.
All the more so given that Scotland’s attack barely fired a shot during the first half. The holy trinity — Finn Russell, Sione Tuipulotu and Huw Jones — just couldn’t get anything going at all.
Russell, in particular, was extremely poor in those opening 40 minutes. Scotland needed their fly-half to be at the peak of his powers to have any chance of winning this match.
On a day where history beckoned, they needed their magician at fly-half to conjure some of his finest sorcery and cast a spell over the Irish. But they didn’t get anything close to that. The first half was riddled with handling errors, Russell looked sluggish, and a few kicks from hand went astray.
Russell scored a try in the second half as Scotland flirted with the idea of making a game of it, but this was his poorest match of the championship. The home crowd jumped on his errors and roared them lustily.
Gregor Townsend was left to reflect on a 12th straight defeat to his personal nemesis Ireland
Up in the stand, Townsend had his head in his hands at one moment as his side squandered good field position from a lineout.
Scotland were better in the second half but the frustrating thing was that almost every time they scored a try, they swiftly lost one at the other end to lose all momentum.
They compounded errors at times, something they know you simply cannot get away with against Ireland. In the end, they were soundly beaten by a margin of 22 points.
Beautiful Day by U2 rang out into the skies as Ireland’s celebrations started with the presentation of the Triple Crown. Every man, woman and child in Dublin turned their eyes to Paris and prayed for an England win.
But to borrow another line from U2, rock and roll royalty in these parts, Townsend and Scotland still haven’t found what they’re looking for.
