IRELAND: 28
SCOTLAND: 22
Stephen Doyle at the Aviva Stadium
Ireland continued their Rugby World Cup preparations with a second win thanks to tries from Chris Henry, Sean Cronin, Simon Zebo and Luke Fitzgerald.
Ian Madigan kicked 8 points in an incredibly hard-fought win over a Scottish team who, unlike Wales last week, gave Ireland a really serious test.
The opening half-hour of the match belonged to Ireland who dominated possession and matters at the breakdown and kept the visitors penned back in their half.
Ireland's best move came in the 16th minute and after several phases Henry picked up the ball at the back of a ruck close to the line and was aided by Dave Kilcoyne in getting over before Madigan converted.
It took Scotland 32 minutes to get inside the Irish 22 but when they did they made it count with a nice move after some patient work which was finished off by Blair Cowan, Peter Horne converted.
Horne missed the chance to give his team the lead just minutes later missing a very kickable penalty with 3 minutes left before the break so it was 7-7 when the teams left the field.
Scotland emerged for the second-half oozing intensity and there was just 4 minutes played when scrum-half Henry Pyrgos found a gap between two Irish players to dive over from close range.
It was the start of what would be an incredibly topsy-turvy second period with Ireland striking next off that unstoppable lineout maul which Cronin finished off with the 5 points and as Paul O'Connell came off the bench Madigan kicked the conversion.
Then followed an incredible break from Dave Kearney, getting his first sniff of action, it led to a recycled ball being popped up for Simon Zebo who ran an incredible line for the fourth try just after a Horne penalty.
The Scottish inside centre grabbed a converted try himself to put Scotland back in front by a point but the lead only lasted until the 70th minute.
Fitzgerald made a wonderful catch in the midst of a touchline hugging run from an excellent cross-field kick by Madigan and the winger went over.
