Ireland star Peter O’Mahony trolled Scotland on Saturday night after his team dumped Gregor Townsend’s side out of the Rugby World Cup. The showdown descended into chaos in the early stages of the second half as a mass on-field brawl broke out between both sets of players. And Ireland eventually sent Scotland packing as they inflicted a 36-14 defeat on their rivals following an imperious performance at the Stade de France in Paris.
Ireland are among the favourites to lift the Rugby World Cup trophy and illustrated their dominance during the first half of their latest contest as James Lowe crashed over for the opening try after just two minutes, before Hugo Keenan added a brace and Iain Henderson crossed the whitewash.
With the world No 1 side 26-0 ahead by the interval, tensions boiled over at the start of the second period after Scotland ace Ollie Smith attempted to trip Ireland captain Johnny Sexton following a halt in play. Sexton took exception to Smith’s actions and gave the replacement back a shove in the chest before a whole host of players clashed in the brawl.
Scotland prop Pierre Schoeman pushed Ireland hooker Dan Sheehan over the advertising boards as the fighting continued on the pitch. And O’Mahony, who was playing his 100th game for Ireland, was also involved in a tussle with Scotland winger Duhan van der Merwe.
Smith was eventually shown a yellow card for starting the fracas as the referee Nic Berry finally got a grip on the incident. Sheehan and Garry Ringrose compounded Scotland’s misery by extending Ireland’s lead, before Ewan Ashman and Ali Price crossed for consolation tries.
“It’s part and parcel of rugby,” O’Mahony said as he addressed the brawl. And the flanker couldn’t resist sticking the knife in as he continued: “It’s a physical game and they were in the press beforehand saying they were going to knock us off our winning streak, and how they had figured us out and worked us out – and I don’t think they did tonight.”
The result means Ireland progress to the Rugby World Cup quarter-finals as Pool B winners after winning all four of their matches. But Scotland’s tournament has come to an end, with South Africa pipping them to second place.
Ireland are set to face New Zealand in the last eight next Saturday. And O’Mahony added: “I think it’s a special, sacred place in rugby, the dressing-room after an international, after a win like that on a big occasion. [I’ll] spend a bit of time with the lads after the effort of the week and everything that goes into it. I’m going to enjoy the next 60 minutes and we’ll turn the page tomorrow to a big week for Irish rugby.”
