Ulster flanker, Chris Henry, scored the first try of the game as Ireland outscored Scotland by four tries to three in a hard-fought World Cup warm-up match at the Aviva Stadium. Henry powered over from close range on the quarter hour mark as he further underlined his case for selection and his score helped the international side to their ninth consecutive win. In a stop-start affair, Ireland struck twice in the final quarter to edge out a highly competitive Scottish side who helped themselves to tries from Blair Cowan, captain Henry Pyrgos and Peter Horne. Following Henry's try, Scotland's Cowan replied during a purple patch for Scotland and it was all-square at half-time - 7-7. Vern Cotter's charges hit the front just four minutes into the second half when scrum half Pyrgos sniped over from close range. A Horne penalty, in response to a muscular maul effort from Sean Cronin, had Scotland 15-14 to the good. However, much-changed Ireland, under the captaincy of Sean O'Brien, broke clear of the visitors in telling fashion. Either side of Horne's 64th-minute try, Ian Madigan took centre stage by setting up converted scores for man-of-the-match Simon Zebo and Luke Fitzgerald. Madigan's slick passing sent replacement Dave Kearney through an initial midfield gap before he put Zebo over from inside the 22. Then, the out-half floated a pinpoint cross-field kick over to the left wing for Fitzgerald to gather it without breaking stride and finish off his first international try since 2009. Madigan converted to take the hosts six points clear and although he put a subsequent penalty attempt wide, Ireland tightened up in defence to prevent Scotland from striking back in the dying minutes. All 23 players were used by Joe Schmidt, including new caps Jack Conan and Nathan White, and new combinations were tested with Gordon D'Arcy - now Ireland's longest-serving player (15 years and 304 days) - linking with Jared Payne in the centre, and O'Brien and Zebo getting game-time at number 8 and full-back respectively.
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Henry scores as Ireland make it two from two in World Cup warm-ups
15th August 2015
Ulster flanker, Chris Henry, scored the first try of the game as Ireland outscored Scotland by four tries to three in a hard-fought World Cup warm-up match at the Aviva Stadium. Henry powered over from close range on the quarter hour mark as he further underlined his case for selection and his score helped the international side to their ninth consecutive win. In a stop-start affair, Ireland struck twice in the final quarter to edge out a highly competitive Scottish side who helped themselves to tries from Blair Cowan, captain Henry Pyrgos and Peter Horne. Following Henry's try, Scotland's Cowan replied during a purple patch for Scotland and it was all-square at half-time - 7-7. Vern Cotter's charges hit the front just four minutes into the second half when scrum half Pyrgos sniped over from close range. A Horne penalty, in response to a muscular maul effort from Sean Cronin, had Scotland 15-14 to the good. However, much-changed Ireland, under the captaincy of Sean O'Brien, broke clear of the visitors in telling fashion. Either side of Horne's 64th-minute try, Ian Madigan took centre stage by setting up converted scores for man-of-the-match Simon Zebo and Luke Fitzgerald. Madigan's slick passing sent replacement Dave Kearney through an initial midfield gap before he put Zebo over from inside the 22. Then, the out-half floated a pinpoint cross-field kick over to the left wing for Fitzgerald to gather it without breaking stride and finish off his first international try since 2009. Madigan converted to take the hosts six points clear and although he put a subsequent penalty attempt wide, Ireland tightened up in defence to prevent Scotland from striking back in the dying minutes. All 23 players were used by Joe Schmidt, including new caps Jack Conan and Nathan White, and new combinations were tested with Gordon D'Arcy - now Ireland's longest-serving player (15 years and 304 days) - linking with Jared Payne in the centre, and O'Brien and Zebo getting game-time at number 8 and full-back respectively.