It had been planned a long time ago - Mags and I were in Edinburgh to watch Ireland play Scotland on the 4th leg of their Grand Slam quest. We travelled over late Friday evening and return late on Sunday.
Saturday morning I collected the tickets - they were on the front row in the west stand. The match wasn't until 5 so we wandered around. It’s such a beautiful city with the hills and dramatic cliffs of Arthurs seat; the dramatic setting of the castle and royal gardens; the lovely old sandstone houses; the intriguing lanes and archways. And of course there were shops. They were a little hard to find but we managed to locate them in the end.
Our hotel was located on the Royal mile just up from Princes Street. We dropped off our purchases and got on our match gear and set off for the grounds around 3pm. As we walked past The Balmoral Hotel there was a small crowd gathered on the footpath and a Bus Eireann coach parked outside. It turned out at the team were due to leave for the grounds in a few minutes. In fact they kept is waiting 15 minutes before they appeared. I managed to get a good spot near the door and captured a picture of each team member as they passed. I nearly missed Drico - he was first and fastest of the main group onto the bus. They were all very much "in the zone" and walked through the crowd as if they weren't there.
We got a bus to Murrayfield which took us most of the way before it became faster and easier to walk! There was a great atmosphere and a lot of Irish fans. We got something to eat in the grounds and were in our seats by 4.40. Scotland started with a lot of intensity. Before long Ireland had conceded a penalty and Chris Paterson (who doesn't know how a miss a penalty!) slotted it over. Patterson continued to punish all kickable penalties all day. By half-time he had kicked four scoring all of Scotland’s points. But Ronan was back on form and he was successful in his three shots at goal in the first half. The second of these gave him the record for the most scores in the 6 nations.
O'Connell Dominates, Uploaded by M+MD.
After the initial Scottish pressure Ireland settled down well enough and when they took their 3rd penalty in the first half the Scots were very relieved to have escaped without conceding a try. As the half ended as Ireland were again applying the pressure. I was pretty sure at half time that Ireland could score a couple of tries or that Scotland would start to crumble.
Stringers Quick Pass, Uploaded by M+MD.
The second half continued as the first had ended with continued Irish attack. However the Scots had done their homework and they defended well against O'Connell and O'Driscoll. We had one heart stopping moment when Thom Evans kicked the ball ahead and collected a very kindly bounce to run past O'Gara only to be tackled by Bowe. Evans managed a great offload to Godman who looked like he could reach the line but a fantastic covering run and tackle by O'Driscoll saved the day for Ireland. Then in the 60th minute Stringer made a great break through the Scottish defence and after a great offload to Heaslip the Naas giant ran in with his arm up in celebration and nearly forgot to ground the ball properly. The try had to be confirmed by the TMO!
Fitzgerald tackles Godman, Uploaded by M+MD.
Ronan kicked the conversion and we were in the lead for the first time. Paterson kicked another penalty. Ronan managed one more penalty - though he missed 2. Then he made up for than with a lovely drop goal. Ireland really closed out the game by a constant attack on the Scottish line. We should have scored more tries against a weak Scottish side. But a win in Murrayfield is always difficult.
The dream continues and my trip to Cardiff next Saturday is full of hope and just a little fear and doubt.
