Ireland recorded another victory in Edinburgh as Scotland came up short in a bid for back-to-back Guinness Six Nations home wins.
The greens opened the scoring in the 8th minute when Calvin Nash touched down following a Sam Prendergast looped ball. The conversion was good.
Moments later Finn Russell and Darcy Graham clashed heads as they were trying to thwart James Lowe’s attacking threat.
Russell went off for a Head Injury Assessment, while Graham’s extended medical attention saw him replaced for good by Jamie Dobie.
Ireland added another three points in the 24th minute from a Prendergast penalty after Scotland had not rolled away.
The visitors extended their lead to 17-points in the 33rd minute when skipper Caelan Doris, touch down was converted again by Prendergast.
However just before the break Duhan van der Merwe touched down in the corner to give the fans some hope.
Three minutes after the restart Blair Kinghorn dispatched an easy penalty to bring the arrears to nine points.
The another Kinghorn penalty six minutes later reduced the deficit to six-points,
But the defending champions quickly added daylight when James Lowe muscled his way over the whitewash and the try was converted once more by Prendergast.
And the die was cast on the hour mark when Jack Conan helped himself to the bonus point try.
With 10-minutes remaining Prendergast got himself into double figures with a long-range penalty after a scrum collapsed 45 metres out.
Some consolation came in the form of a late Ben White try, the scrum-half nipping over from close range, which Kinghorn converted.
Full-time: Scotland 18-32 Ireland
Scotland: Blair Kinghorn (Toulouse), Darcy Graham (Edinburgh Rugby), Huw Jones, Tom Jordan (both Glasgow Warriors), Duhan van der Merwe (Edinburgh Rugby); Finn Russell (co-captain) (Bath Rugby), Ben White (Toulon); Rory Sutherland (Glasgow Warriors), Dave Cherry (Edinburgh Rugby), Zander Fagerson (Glasgow Warriors), Jonny Gray (Bordeaux-Bègles), Grant Gilchrist, Matt Fagerson, Rory Darge (co-captain), Jack Dempsey (all Glasgow Warriors).
Replacements: Ewan Ashman (Edinburgh Rugby) (for Cherry, 48 mins), Pierre Schoeman (Edinburgh Rugby) (for Sutherland, 48 mins), Will Hurd (Leicester Tigers) (for Z. Fagerson, 68 mins), Gregor Brown (Glasgow Warriors) (for Gray, 48 mins), Sam Skinner (Edinburgh Rugby) (for Gilchrist, 68 mins), Jamie Ritchie (Edinburgh Rugby) (for Dempsey, 60 mins), Jamie Dobie (Glasgow Warriors) (for Graham, 22 mins), Stafford McDowall (Glasgow Warriors) for Russell, 22 mins HIA).
Ireland: Hugo Keenan, Calvin Nash, Robbie Henshaw, Bundee Aki, James Lowe; Sam Prendergast, Jamison Gibson-Park; Andrew Porter, Rónan Kelleher, Finaly Bealham, James Ryan, Tadhg Beirne, Peter O’Mahony, Josh van der Flier, Caelan Doris (captain).
Replacements: Dan Sheehan, Cian Healy, Thomas Clarkson, Ryan Baird, Jack Conan, Conor Murray, Jack Crowley, Garry Ringrose.
Referee: James Doleman (NZR)
Assistant referees: Ben O’Keefe (NZR) and Pierre Brousset (FFR)
Television Match Official: Richard Kelly (NZR)
Fair Play Review Officer: Andrew Jackson (RFU)
Guinness Player of the Match: Sam Prendergast (Ireland)
Attendance: 67,144
John graduated from Telford College in 2010 with an HNC in Practical Journalism and since then he worked for the North Edinburgh News, The Southern Reporter, the Irish News Review and The Edinburgh Reporter. In addition he has been published in the Edinburgh Evening News and the Hibernian FC Programme.
