Match Centre: Scotland 7-22 Ireland
James Lowe was one of Ireland's try scorer
©Steve Haag
Scotland 7-22 Ireland, Murrayfield Stadium
Ireland have kept their hope of winning the Six Nations Grand Slam alive as they defeated Scotland 22-7 in the fourth round of the competition at Murrayfield Stadium on Sunday.
This is fourth win for Ireland in as many games as they extended their lead over second placed France by four points and they will be taking on England in the final round match. After a promising start to the tournament with wins over England and Wales, Scotland continue to remain at third place with 10 points.
The game also marked 100th cap for Stuart Hogg but they had a rough start to the match with Richie Gray departing due to injury in the 5th minute before Johnny Sexton kicked a penalty goal in front of the posts to start the proceedings for Ireland.
With Ireland's Calean Doris also leaving the field injured, Scotland got their first try as Sione Tuipulotu and Huw Jones combined to send the latter over the line and Finn Russell kicked the conversion to make it 7-3.
Ireland responded back strongly as Hugo Keenan sent a strong pass that Mack Hansen gathered as he went past Duhan van der Merwe to touchdown as the teams completed the opening half with a 7-8 scoreline.
Ireland extended the momentum into the second half as a high ball from Jamison Gibson-Park allowed James Lowe to complete their second try and five minutes later the wing sent a floating pass helping Jack Conan over the line. Sexton kicked both the conversions as Ireland extended their lead to 7-22.
The final moments saw Garry Ringrose leave with a head knock while Finn Russell also limped off as Ireland completed a fourth consecutive win.
Team line up:
Scotland: Hogg; Steyn, Jones, Tuipulotu, Van der Merwe; Russell, White; Schoeman, Turner, Z. Fagerson, R. Gray, J Gray, M. Fagerson, Ritchie (capt), Dempsey.
Reserves: Brown, Bhatti, Berghan, Cummings, Watson, Price, Kinghorn, Harris.
Ireland: Keenan; Hansen, Ringrose, Aki, Lowe; Sexton (capt), Murray; Porter, Sheehan, Furlong, Henderson, Ryan, O'Mahony, Van der Flier, Doris.
Reserves: Kelleher, Healy, O'Toole, Baird, Conan, Jamison-Park, Bryne, Henshaw.
