Ireland led Scotland 7-6 at half-time, in part thanks to this tackle from Jamison Gibson-Park.
The first half of Ireland versus Scotland was not the classic encounter we hoped for on Super Saturday, with just the one try but a Jamison Gibson-Park tackle on Finn Russell made up for it.
Both sides struggled to kick-start their attacks but this was mainly down to the tenacity of the defence from both sets of players.
Read more: How to watch Ireland v Scotland: Live stream this afternoon’s Six Nations 2024 match
Gibson-Park’s tackle on Finn Russell was by far one of the defensive highlights of the first half.
Former Irish centre Gordon D’Arcy after the Gibson-Park tackle: “Jamison Gibson-Park has been in a thorn in Scotland’s side. He has been pivotal for Ireland both in defence and attack.”
With just two minutes to play in the half and one point in it, Scotland had a scrum on halfway with a sizeable openside, prime Russell attacking position.
High rugby IQ from Gibson-Park there.
Terrier in defence.
— RugbyInsideLine (@RugbyInsideLine) March 16, 2024
Having won the scrum, Ben White played the ball to Stafford McDowall who was standing at first receiver and looked to play a set move.
The aim was to get the ball into Russell’s hands so he could work his Messi-esque magic but the Irish halfback had other ideas.
Instead of pestering his opposite number at the base or aiming to hit McDowall, he honed in on Russell and went straight for the Scottish fly half.
As part of the play, Huw Jones runs a decoy line off McDowall’s shoulder, but Gibson-Park had his head down and was purely focused on getting Russell.
As soon as the ball was in Russell’s hands, Gibson-Park launched himself at Russell, forcing the fly half to rush into a pass.
Jamison Gibson-Park n’a qu’une cible : Finn Russell 🎯#IRESCO | #SixNationsRugby pic.twitter.com/SRnr5XTGCf
— Six Nations (FR) (@SixNations_FR) March 16, 2024
Usually Scotland’s mercurial man has no problem with getting the ball away under pressure, but such was Gibson-Park’s speed he had milliseconds to make the pass.
Being the talented player he is, Russell managed to get the ball away but it was way beyond the reach of the onrushing Duhan van der Merwe.
The defence completely killed any momentum Scotland had hoped to create and ultimately they went into the changing rooms without adding any points to their tally.
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