O'Gara Saves Ireland's Blushes

RBS Six Nations: Scotland 18 Ireland 21

Ronan O'Gara proved Declan Kidney was right to recall him to the Irish starting XV as the veteran fly-half inspired the men in green to a 21-18 RBS 6 Nations victory over Scotland.

First-half tries from Jamie Heaslip and Eoin Reddan should have had Ireland out of sight in the first 40 minutes but were made to pay for a high penalty count and were pegged back by three Chris Paterson penalties.

But O'Gara crossed himself after the restart and despite some late Scotland pressure, Ireland held on to keep their hopes of a Six Nations title alive.

For Scotland they have now lost three from three but can take heart from this Murrayfield performance, but will be disappointed not to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat at the death.

Andy Robinson's men are making a bad habit of conceding early in this year's Six Nations and they were at it again after just six minutes.

Tommy Bowe, the 2010 player of the tournament making his first appearance in this year's competition, chased down an O'Gara kick and forced Paterson to knock the ball out for an Irish line-out just five metres out.

And after some patient drives Rory Best drew the attention of the Scottish centres and was able to slip the ball to Heaslip who ran the final metre to touch down, O'Gara with the easy conversion.

But if the Murrayfield crowd feared the floodgates would open then they were in luck as indiscipline from the men in green got Scotland back into the game with two Paterson penalties.

O'Gara missed a kick of his own on 20 minutes but made up for it five minutes later as his superb kick pushed Scotland back towards their own tryline.

And after Paterson was forced to touch the ball down behind the tryline, the recalled Reddan was the one to benefit as he followed up good work from Heaslip to touch down under the posts, O'Gara with the extras.

Best then failed to move away after making a tackle to give Paterson his third penalty kick as the Ireland penalty count ticked over to seven after the first half-hour.

But Ireland held on to go into the interval 14-9 ahead, although it could have been so much better had Sean Lamont's last-ditch tackle not stopped the flying Keith Earls seconds before the whistle.

As the second-half begun it was Scotland's turn to show ill discipline with referee Nigel Owens showing yellow to prop Allan Jacobsen for his behaviour in the scrum on 44 minutes.

And despite constant pressure it took Ireland until the last minute of Jacobsen's enforced ten minutes off the pitch to make their extra man count.

Cian Healy got the move going and the ball eventually found its way to O'Gara who bustled his way over, converting his own try to put Ireland 12 points ahead.

Paterson added his fourth penalty on 58 minutes before the destroyer of Ireland from a year ago at Croke Park, Dan Parks, entered the fray.

Parks got 18 points in Scotland's 23-20 victory in 2010 and made things nervy for the hosts as a penalty and a drop-goal brought the score to within three points.

But despite nearly throwing the win away through their poor discipline Kidney's men managed to see the game out and now turn their attentions to a trip to Wales on March 12.