Johnny Sexton steered Ireland to a 27-24 victory over Scotland at Murrayfield on Sunday, grinding down a sparkling but indisciplined home side to cap off a brilliant weekend of Six Nations rugby and send his team shooting up the standings.
Tries by Robbie Henshaw and Tadhg Beirne and the unerring boot of the Irish fly-half helped them to a win that lifted them to second on 11 points, albeit with no hope of winning the tournament with Wales on 19.
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Scotland were at times dazzling in attack, their main creative forces Finn Russell and Stuart Hogg prominent as they ran in brilliant tries for Russell, Huw Jones and Hamish Watson but could not match Ireland’s control.
Sexton piled on the penalties in the second half as Ireland survived a spirited Scotland comeback and secured the win that left the hosts stuck in fifth place in the table with two games remaining.