What an incredible day of rugby that was. I thought it might be exciting, I hoped it would be exciting but never did I think it would hit the levels it did. What a shame, then, that Scotland allowed themselves to get caught up in the story which unfolded rather than focus on their task at hand. In the second half at BT Murrayfield, Vern Cotter’s men lost the plot rather than doing the basics right and there did not seem to be anyone giving direction in the last 20 minutes. It is an inexperienced side and we saw that naivety in spades on Saturday. Scotland's dismal Six Nations campaign ended with a 40-10 thrashing by Ireland at Murrayfield . Scotland should not concede 40 points at home and lose by a margin of 30 points to Ireland. A championship that promised so much has, ultimately, delivered very little and Scotland’s dismal run in the Six Nations continues. In 12 matches, we have won only once and that was courtesy of a last-minute drop goal in Rome last season. That says it all really. It is particularly painful when placed against the style and substance displayed by the Irish, England, France and Wales on what was a stunning day. For the tournament to go down to the last second of the last game was amazing but it was what happened in the lead-up to those tense dying moments which made Saturday truly remarkable. Scotland's huge loss on Saturday was their fifth in the tournament and they finished bottom of the table . I thought Wales would rack up a load of points against Italy but they only did this in a devastating second-half display. As that game was drawing to a close, with Wales 28 points better off than Ireland and looking like scoring again, it appeared that it was game over and Wales would win the Six Nations. But they missed the chance and Italy scored down the other end. There was a collective cheer in Italy, Ireland and England because it gave the latter two countries a chance. I felt Wales were still favourites as, although I thought Ireland and England would win their games, I didn’t think they would be able to accumulate enough points to go above Wales. How wrong I was! I felt it was a perfect day for Scotland to really show what they were all about because there was no pressure on them whatsoever and they could just go out and play with total freedom. To a point, they did this but so did Ireland — and they did it far better than their hosts. Ireland were crowned Six Nations winners after a dramatic final day that saw them edge England and Wales . Both England and Ireland had targets they knew they had to win by to have a chance of lifting the Six Nations trophy. This very rarely happens in rugby and I thought this might mean their focus would be on scoring tries rather than playing the game in the normal safety-first manner. England did adopt this approach and it ultimately cost them but Ireland were able to operate a normal game plan, mainly because of how Scotland were playing. It was an exciting first half where Ireland dominated the early stages but Scotland hung in and eventually played some really good rugby that led to Finn Russell’s try. That was just about it for Scotland and the last 40 minutes of the Championship was painful — with so many mistakes, turnovers, penalties conceded and poor leadership. England beat France 55-35 at Twickenham but it wasn't enough to overhaul Ireland . Wales had earlier moved into pole position when they beat Italy 61-20 in Rome . With that thumping victory, Ireland set England a target of 26 points that they had to win by to snatch the trophy. The difference in this game was that France really did come to the party and easily produced their best performance of the Six Nations. Mind you, so did England — and 90 points scored tells you that the attack was very much on top with defence an optional extra at times. That England came within a metre and six points of winning the Six Nations was incredible and the drama was off the scale. When France won a penalty after 80 minutes had passed, the whole of Ireland celebrated but the drama was not over. Inexplicably, France ran the penalty on their own line and gave England one more chance to win the ball back and caused a nation to have a collective heart attack. Eventually they saw sense and kicked the ball out to finish off the most amazing day in the history of the RBS Six Nations. When the dust settled, Ireland were crowned Six Nations champions but huge credit goes to England, Wales and France for their contribution to an incredible day. As for Scotland and Italy, they contributed as well but in a very different way.
Scotland finished bottom of the standings in the Six Nations . Vern Cotter's men lost all five matches and their dismal run continues . Ireland beat Scotland 40-10 at Murrayfield on Saturday . Scotland were inexperienced and that naivety was on show .