Scotland denied Ireland a Triple Crown and handed Italy the wooden spoon by winning 23-20 at Croke Park thanks to a last-gasp Dan Parks penalty. Though it was built on a massive effort by the forwards to win the breakdown and shade the line-outs.
Scotland led 14-7 at half-time through a Johnnie Beattie try and two penalties and a drop-goal by Dan Parks man of the match for the third time in this Six nations series.
The second period and Ireland needed to score first and so it was as Brian O’Driscoll scored an early try which Jonathan Sexton converted. Parks and Sexton then swapped penalties before Tommy Bowe scored a try tying it at 17-17, Dan Parks and Ronan O’Gara posted further kicks before Parks slotted a difficult late winner. Giving us the final score of:
Ireland 20-23 Scotland
Scorers
Ireland (7) 20
Tries: O’Driscoll, Bowe Cons: Sexton, O’Gara Pens: Sexton, O’Gara
Scotland (14) 23
Try: Beattie Pens: Parks 5 Drop goals: Parks
Teams
Ireland: G Murphy, T Bowe, B O’Driscoll (capt), G D’Arcy, K Earls, J Sexton, T O’Leary, C Healy, R Best, J Hayes, D O’Callaghan, P O’Connell, S Ferris, D Wallace, J Heaslip.
Replacements: S Cronin, T Buckley for Hayes (80), L Cullen, S Jennings, E Reddan, R O’Gara for Sexton (52), R Kearney for Murphy (26) .
Scotland: H Southwell, S Lamont, N De Luca, G Morrison, M Evans, D Parks, C Cusiter (capt); A Jacobsen, R Ford, E Murray, J Hamilton, A Kellock, K Brown, J Barclay, J Beattie.
Replacements: S Lawson for Ford (72), A Dickinson for Jacobsen (67), R Gray for Hamilton (52), A MacDonald, M Blair for Cusiter (52), P Godman, S Danielli for Lamont (73).
Referee: Jonathan Kaplan (South Africa)
Touch judges: Craig Joubert (South Africa) & Jerome Garces (France)
TV: Giulio de Santis (Italy)