Ireland v Scotland | Talking points from a record-breaking day at Aviva Stadium

A record-breaking day for Ireland saw them end their Guinness Women’s Six Nations campaign on a high with a dominant 54-5 victory over Scotland.

In front of a record crowd at the Aviva Stadium – just the second time Ireland women have played at Lansdowne Road – Ireland crossed for eight tries. Seven of those in the first half alone.

Player of the match Brittany Hogan crossed for a double, as did Aoife Wafer. The scoring deluge let up after half-time but by then the game was done.

Scotland crossed for a late consolation with the clock in the red when Aicha Sutcliffe got on the end of a rolling maul.

Here are the game’s talking points…

Ireland find their clinical edge

While Sunday afternoon brought a party atmosphere to the end of this Women’s Six Nations for Ireland, that’s largely all this was. A celebration of how far this side has come, both in terms of results and drawing the public towards them.

It was not, though the contest that would define Ireland’s tournament from an on-pith standpoint. That was always going to be the round three tie with France away in Clermont.

Then, Ireland started the game with a physical edge that saw them dominate possession and territory. That dominance did not translate to the scoreboard, errors and the French rearguard frustrating Scott Bemand’s side.

On Sunday, once again Ireland started fast. After 20 minutes, they had a ridiculous 94 per cent of the territory. This time, they found the scores to match.

At half-time, Ireland were 47-0 up. Their 10 22 entries yielded 4.7 points per entry, a quite frankly absurd level of scoring efficiency.

After 40 minutes, Ireland had 78 per cent of the ball compared to Scotland’s 22 per cent. They made 85 carries and 348 metres to the visitors’ figures of 19 and 58. Scotland were forced into making 103 tackles, Ireland just 19.

It was a brutal display of dominance and, more importantly, efficiency as Ireland took just 18 minutes to secure a bonus point, killing the game off as a contest before we were a quarter of the way home.

Ireland find their attacking layers

Of course, all of this comes with caveats focusing on the opposition. Playing a struggling Scotland side after six weeks of training time is a better recipe for attacking continuity than a round one date with the Red Roses at Allianz Stadium.

Regardless, this was as good as we’ve seen Ireland’s attack under Scott Bemand. It was a varied, layered performance that showed that, if things go their way, Ireland can find different ways to the try line.

One of them was clearly the maul, Cliodhna Moloney-MacDonald benefiting there with the first score of the game on Sunday. In fact, nearly all of Ireland’s tries ended with forward power close to the line. Against the likes of Scotland, with Wafer, Hogan and co getting plenty of ball, Ireland can overpower their opponents up front.

Against better teams, though, that hasn’t always been the case. When losing to France, Ireland’s attack was one-dimensional: hope the forwards do the job with brute force.

Much more than that was on display here. There were late tip-on passes from Sam Monaghan. Offloads from Wafer to Béibhinn Parsons and back again. Late swings into the line from Eve Higgins. Combine all of this with a lightning speed of ruck – 36 per cent of Irish breakdowns lasted fewer than three seconds – and Scotland could not cope.

Time and again, desperation led to penalties and field position. Dannah O’Brien would kick to the corner and the forwards would do the best.

The best score of the day, it should be said, was undoubtedly Wafer’s effort just before half-time. Here, we saw Ireland score on transition, on counter-attack, and not with their strong set-piece.

It all started with an O’Brien spiral bomb which was not dealt with properly. Kicking under pressure, Scotland couldn’t get their chase right. Robyn O’Connor made her pay.

Her footwork and speed showed exactly why she has been fast-tracked into the side during this campaign. On the shoulder was a supporting Wafer and she enjoyed her run under the posts with a swan dive in celebration.

Ireland won’t always get the forward dominance and ruck speed they did today. But if they can keep adding these offloading, counter-attacking layers to their attack – to go with a strong set-piece and a more clinical edge inside the 22 – then next year’s clash with France will be a cracker.

Who knows, it could be back at the Aviva?

Where do Scotland go from here

At least Sutcliffe found the line when she did. Scotland left it as late as they possibly could to avoid being nilled. That’s about as good as things got for them on a brutally difficult day.

Such was Ireland’s dominance, the visitors didn’t actually enter the Irish 22m with ball in hand until the 77th minute. Even then, Erin King shut down the attack with a breakdown turnover.

There were moments of defensive positivity, at least. Any side that makes 228 tackles deserves praise for their work ethic. Even if it came off the inability to slow down Ireland’s ball – the exception of a crucial Holland Bogan turnover aside.

Only a win against Wales in round one saves Scotland from a wooden spoon in this campaign. Even then, the way the Welsh withstood Ireland’s early onslaught last week marks a stark contrast to this Scottish effort in Dublin.

Considering the Scots beat Ireland last year, albeit there were plenty missing in green through injury, there has been a remarkable turnaround in fortunes for these two sides.

One group appears to be only scratching the surface of their potential. The other looks devoid of a plan for the future.