Club international: Ireland 42 Scotland 33
Another feather in the cap of Irish club rugby. In a welcome break from the rain, this was a richly entertaining game and Ireland were not remotely flattered by the winning margin to retain the Dalriada Cup against a fiercely competitive Scottish side.
The coaching ticket of Adam Craig, Ger Slattery and Emmet MacMahon had this scratch team drawn from seven clubs well primed. As well as cohesive moves and ambitious rugby, Ireland grew into the game, especially in a four-try second quarter.
Bobby Sheehan shone and varnished his display with a hat-trick of tries, Sean Rigney and Fionn Gilbert put themselves about, as did a very accomplished backrow featuring captain and man-of-the-match Jack Kelleher.
Alan Maher was his efficient, tidy self, Conor Kelly pulled the strings smoothly, Aran Egan had some lovely touches, Myles Carey continued his rich vein of form and Aaron Sexton was always a handful.
Ireland Club XV’s Myles Carey comes up against Ben Pickles of Scotland Club XV. Photograph: Ben Brady/Inpho
There were too many missed tackles, albeit Scotland possessed plenty of hard carriers and pace, and Ireland needed a strong defensive set before Kelly crosskicked along the ground for Sheehan to cleverly kick the ball on and score.
A quick-fire double by Andrew Mitchell put the Scots ahead, before Ireland responded with tries by Maher, Watters and two more by Sheehan, one of them after Rankin broke clear from Gilbert’s inside pass in a reworking of a Joe Schmidt move. Maher’s try was the pick of the night after a lovely bridge pass by Egan hit Sexton on the edge and Carey was the link for the scrumhalf to finish under the posts.
After the break, Mitchell crashed over for his third and Gregor Christie also scored for the Scots either side of Egan’s jinking finish, before Archie Barbour had the final say as Ireland played the last 10 minutes with 14 men after the visitors would no allow the injured David Whitten to be replaced.
Scoring sequence: 9 mins Sheehan try, Kelly con 7-0; 11 mins Mitchell try 7-5; 17 mins Mitchell try, Patterson con 7-12; 23 mins Maher try, Kelly con 14-12; 19 mins Sheehan try, Kelly con 21-12; 34 mins Watters try 28-12; 37 mins Sheehan try, Kelly con 35-12; (half-time 5-12); 49 mins Mitchell try, Patterson con 35-19; 54 mins Egan try, Kelly con 42-19; 56 mins Christie try, Patterson con 42-26; 77 mins Barbour try, Patterson con 42-33.
IRELAND CLUB XV: Conor Rankin (Ballynahinch); Seán French (Cork Con), Myles Carey (St Mary’s), Aran Egan (Terenure), Aaron Sexton (Ballynahinch); Conor Kelly (Clontarf), Adam Maher (Cork Con); David Begley (Young Munster), Bobby Sheehan (Lansdowne), Luke Masters (Cork Con); Seán Rigney (Terenure), Fionn Gilbert (Clontarf); Jack Kelleher (Cork Con, capt), Ronan Watters (St Mary’s), Bradley Luney (Ballynahinch).
Replacements: Marcus Hanan (Terenure College RFC) for Begley (48 mins), Adam LaGrue (Terenure College RFC) for Carey (50 mins), Claytan Milligan (Ballynahinch RFC) for Sheehan, Bailey Faloon (Young Munster RFC) for Rigney (both 53 mins), Adam Tuite (Terenure College RFC) for Masters, David Whitten (Instonians RFC) for Watters, Sam Owens (Clontarf FC) for Maher, Tadhg Bird (Clontarf FC) for Egan (all 62 mins).
SCOTLAND CLUB XV: Glenn Bryce (Stirling County); Jamie Shedden (Ayr), Andrew Mitchell (Hawick), Bobby Beattie (Ayr), Ben Pickles (Selkirk); Dwain Patterson (Kelso), Gregor Christie (Currie Chieftains); Jack Dobie (Melrose), Fraser Renwick (Hawick), Struan Cessford (Heriot’s); Angus Runciman (Melrose), Oscar Baird (Ayr); Ruairidh Leishman (Heriot’s), Tim Brown (Ayr), Blair MacPherson (Ayr, capt).
Replacements: Elliot Young for Renwick, Jamie Drummond for Dobie (50 mins), Sam Wallace for Brown, Ruaraidh Hart for Baird, Euan McKirdy for Shedden, Archie Barbour for Pickles (all 59 mins), Euan McKirdy for Christie, Callum Anderson for Bryce (both 64 mins).
Referee: Cai Lewis (WRU).