The Munster captain collided with the Scottish fullback moments before that crucial Conor Murray try.
Greig Laidlaw and Gregor Townsend, Scotland’s captain and head coach, gave credit to Ireland for their grinding victory in Edinburgh but they left the ground with a few sore points festering.
The Scots felt referee Romain Poite had not given them a fair shake of it, that Peter O’Mahony should have been yellow-carded (on two separate occasions) and that Rob Kearney had denied them a clear try-scoring chance with a no arms tackle.
One of those big moments arrived after only nine minutes when Stuart Hogg tried a dink over Peter O’Mahony that ended with the Scotland No.15 landing badly on his shoulder.
Credit: BBCFollowing the game, which Ireland won 22-13, Scots boss Townsend told reporters:
“It was disappointing. He chipped ahead and he was sandwiched between two players and there was a collision which caused him to land on his shoulder.”
While Rory Best was merely trying to slow Hogg’s chase, it was O’Mahony that did the damage. He would justifiably contend that he was going to block the kick but his left elbow was high and brace, and was the impediment that sent the fullback hurtling.
Ireland gathered the ball after that Hogg chip through and the Scots did not get it back until three minutes later when Finn Russell re-started after Jacob Stockdale had kicked on, the Scots erred in defence and Conor Murray nipped in to score.
Hogg will now sit out the rest of the Guinness Six Nations and his season with Glasgow Warriors may be over too. He is due to move from Scotstoun at the end of 2018/19 so may well have played his final Warriors game. Needless to say, many Scots are fuming about that O’Mahony dunt.
If the nes abouts Hogg being out for 3+months is true then Peter O'Mahony needs to be brought to justice. He tried a quick cheap shot on someone, without thinking through the after affects or risk it put his opponent at. Rugby needs to make an example of him to stop this stuff.
— Martin welsh 🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦 (@accts_cowboy) February 13, 2019
Hogg being our for the six nations is bad enough.
Hogg facing a fight to be fit for the world cup is just downright depressing.
Screw you Peter O'Mahony #SixNations
— Sean (@Seanasauruss) February 13, 2019
Has Peter O'Mahony, good as he is, been cited yet for his 'Hacksaw' Jim Duggan on Stuart Hogg yet? As deliberate as it gets.
— Stuart MacLennan (@MacLennanStu) February 11, 2019
The Ireland blindside was not cited following the match so he will not receive any sanctions for the collision, no matter how unfortunate his 2017 British & Irish Lions’ teammate’s fall was.
As for the Kearney challenge on Tommy Seymour, Paul O’Connell defended the Ireland 15 on BBC when John Barclay and Andy Nicol (two Scots) argued he did not wrap in the tackle.
The final word on the BBC panel went to former England captain Martin Johnson who stated, “I’d say play on.” That pleased O’Connell no end.
The Scottish forwards dished out some big hits of their own, at Murrayfield, and Ireland No.10 Johnny Sexton left the fray midway through the first half. His coming together with Scotland prop Allan Dell was covered on Baz & Andrew’s House of Rugby:
“I felt that was like Mortal Kombat,” remarked former Ireland winger Andrew Trimble, “and Johnny’s health was right down to that. And then someone just shouted, ‘Finish Him!’ and Allan Dell just upper-cutted him and Johnny missed the bridge on the way back down and hit the spikes at the bottom.”
Ireland fans will be hoping that is not the last they see of Sexton in this Guinness Six Nations championship.
