IRELAND A held on for a dramatic Churchill Cup Plate victory at Twickenham at the expense of Scotland A.

Frank Murphy and Roger Wilson scored the tries for Michael Bradley's side to establish an early lead which they held onto despite Scotland's last-ditch efforts. Scott Lawson and Thom Evans scored tries to keep Frank Hadden's men in the hunt for victory, but Calum MacRae missed a conversion which would have given them a late, and possibly decisive lead.

It meant consecutive Plate victories for Ireland A after beating England Saxons last year and claiming third in the tournament.

MacRae in fact opened the scoring with a penalty for Scotland after Jonathan Sexton had struck the upright for the Irish. Hadden's men then failed to hold onto their lead, although they were contributors to the two early tries for the Irish. Murphy charged down Rob Crystie's kick in the ninth minute for the first, while a stray pass beyond the deadball area led to the second. Ireland maintained pressure from the resulting scrum and Wilson went over. Sexton converted the second of the two.

Scotland's response was immediate, with the referee requiring a television replay to confirm Lawson had gone over in the corner straight from the kick-off. MacRae converted from the touchline. Sexton's penalty put some light between the teams but the scoring dried up when the teams took a one-minute water break to counter the fierce heat. And it took something special get the scoreboard ticking again, MacRae kicking a penalty from his own half to reduce the deficit to two points going into the break.

Ryan Caldwell was yellow carded just before the interval for a clash with Mark Rennie, but Scotland failed to capitalise while he was in the cooler. Ireland were back to their full compliment when MacRae had the chance to edge the Scots ahead, but he struck the post with a penalty.

A glut of replacements on both sides did little to encourage a second-half spectacle as the game lacked fluidity, but a flowing move from Ireland did manage to extend their lead when the ball was worked to Keith Earls in the corner on the hour mark.

Ian Keatley added the extra points to leave Scotland needing a converted try and a penalty for victory.

MacRae provided the penalty with 10 minutes remaining, Evans provided the try but MacRae could not add the final conversion. Keatley struck a post with a late penalty.