Ireland have held firm to beat Scotland 17-13 in a tight match at the Aviva Stadium to clinch back-to-back Six Nations titles for the second time in 11 years.
After England denied them a bid for successive grand slams the previous week, a sluggish Ireland looked at risk of relinquishing their grip on the title on Saturday and giving the English something to play for in Paris after eking out an unconvincing 7-6 halftime lead.
Andy Farrell’s men showed far more intent straight after the break, however, pushing hard until Andrew Porter’s 65th-minute try put daylight between the sides, only for a late Huw Jones try and an Irish yellow card to set up a nervy finish.
The victory kept Ireland too far ahead of second-placed England, who were playing France in the final game of the championship later in the day. Scotland finished with two wins and three losses.
“Very special, these days don’t come around very often,” said Ireland captain Peter O’Mahony, who had reminded fans after the Twickenham disappointment that Ireland would have given an arm and a leg for a single title not so long ago.
“We put in a lot of hard work, going back to the World Cup. It was tough but it galvanised us. To come back from that defeat, it shows the character in the group we have,” he added.
The veteran Munster back-row forward, who was in tears during the anthems, said before lifting the trophy that the game could be his last for Ireland.
“If it was the last one, I’ll be a happy man,” he said in a pitchside interview.
Ireland pose with the Six Nations Trophy. (Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images)
The game was punctuated with nerves for the home fans, with Finn Russell putting Scotland 3-0 ahead after a scrappy opening 10 minutes.
But the Scots gifted Ireland an opening try with a horror show of a lineout five metres from their own line that flew past all the Scottish jumpers and into the arms of Dan Sheehan who strolled over for his fifth try of the championship.
A tired-looking Ireland attack conceded eight early turnovers as the visitors blunted what little they had to offer with an organised defence.
Ireland came alive after the break, flyhalf Jack Crowley nudging them four points clear before prop Tadhg Furlong was denied a try in a tight call by the officials.
After they were held up on the line again, persistent Scottish fouls put replacement prop Ewan Ashman in the sin bin and the breakthrough arrived when the subsequent penalty found its way to Porter who did the rest.
A yellow card for Irish replacement Harry Byrne four minutes from the end ensured a far nervier finish that Ireland would have liked, particularly when Jones cut the deficit to four points but the hosts hung tight and the celebrations began.
Gatland offers to quit
Warren Gatland has offered to resign after Wales picked up their first Six Nations wooden spoon as bottom-placed finishers since 2003 – but it was turned down.
Gatland said Wales had reached “rock bottom” after a 24-21 defeat to Italy in Cardiff on Saturday – their seventh successive Six Nations home loss – and revealed that he’d offered his resignation to Welsh Rugby Union chief executive Abi Tierney after the final whistle.
The 60-year-old New Zealander is contracted until the 2027 World Cup, having returned to start a second spell as Wales head coach in December 2022.
Asked if he wanted to remain until 2027, Gatland replied: “Yes, absolutely. I’ve made that commitment.
“I just said to Abi in the changing room, ‘If you want me to resign, I’m quite happy to do that’.
“She said, ‘Like hell, that’s the last thing I want, that’s what I’m really afraid of’.
“But I can promise you we’ll go away and review this really carefully. We’ve already done some review stuff and we’ll work on areas that need to improve.”
Italy completed their best Six Nations campaign with the win over a desperately poor Wales who scored three late tries in Cardiff but still slipped to a fifth successive defeat.
Italy scored tries through their Australian-born winger Monty Ioane and fullback Lorenzo Pani on Saturday as they won the collisions, were better at the breakdown and overpowered the Welsh scrum in arguably their most accomplished ever Six Nations performance.
Wales’ young squad will lose more experience with retiring stalwart centre George North, who limped off late on, bowing out of Test rugby with a demoralising defeat as they crossed for late scores through hooker Elliot Dee, lock Will Rowlands and centre Mason Grady, but were second best on the day.
Italy have two wins and a draw from their five games for the first time in the Six Nations, and 11 points, the most they have managed in a single campaign as their revival under new Argentine coach Gonzalo Quesada gathers momentum.
“It means everything or us,” Italy captain Michele Lamaro said. “But we want to achieve more, we have had a good tournament, but we know we can do even better than this.
“We have been through difficult moments and now we must celebrate these good ones.”
Italy, with Michael Lynagh’s son Louis in their ranks again, scored the first try midway through the first half with a superb break from their own half that took them to the Welsh line, before they showed patience to create the space in the defensive wall for Ioane to glide over.
The visitors led 11-0 at halftime, but Wales created momentum early in the second half through winger Rio Dyer and scrumhalf Tomos Williams, but that was ended when lock Adam Beard was penalised for a neck role at a ruck.
The unforced error was compounded when Italy went up the other end of the pitch and scored their second try thanks to a brilliant run from Pani as the visitors cut through their hosts out wide.
Wales had a route back into the game when they scored their first points on 64 minutes when Dee burrowed over the line and got the ball down under heavy Italian pressure, before Rowlands and Grady crossed to give the scoreline a more respectable look.
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