Ireland kept alive its chances of retaining its Six Nations rugby title by downing Wales 27-12, while England's slim hope flicked out in a dour 15-15 draw against Scotland Saturday. Ireland's first win over Wales at Croke Park meant it could still take the Triple Crown for beating all other British Isles sides, and could even retain its Six Nations title if unbeaten leader France is somehow overturned by Italy Sunday or by England next week. England looks ill-placed to spring such a surprise after failing for a third straight time at Murrayfield to break down a Scotland team that stayed bottom of the standings despite a first point in this year's championship. “It's frustrating for both sides and a kind of empty result,” England captain Steve Borthwick said. Ireland was pumped up for captain Brian O'Driscoll's 100th cap, but in outscoring Wales by three tries to none it only got the first two of those touchdowns when Wales was reduced to 14 men. Following fullback Lee Byrne's yellow card in the 25th minute, Keith Earls and Tomas O'Leary scored within seven minutes to boost Ireland from 6-3 to 16-3. “When they went a man down we upped the tempo and went after them,” Ireland captain Brian O'Driscoll said. “They struggled to live with us and for those 10 minutes we played intelligently. “We didn't try to play too much rugby but when the time arose we took our chances and weren't afraid to throw it around.” Earls touched down again midway through the second period to prevent the sort of comeback that brought Wales victory over Scotland and almost overturned big deficits to England and France. All 30 points at Murrayfield came from the boot. Dan Parks struck four penalties and a drop goal for Scotland while Jonny Wilkinson kicked three penalties for England before leaving hurt again. His replacement, Toby Flood, kicked England's remaining points with two more penalties. Flood had a chance to snatch victory after his forwards engineered a drop goal opening in the last move, but his kick was charged down. France will continue chasing its first Six Nations Grand Slam since 2004 Sunday having thrashed defending champion Ireland 33-10 and won games in Scotland and Wales. Stormers rout Hurricanes In Cape Town, the Stormers scored five tries and produced another strong defensive display to beat the Wellington Hurricanes 37-13 in round five of Super 14 rugby. In Pretoria, the Bulls racked up 50 points for the third time this season in thrashing the Otago Highlanders 50-28 and reclaiminbg the lead Saturday. In Sydney, loosehead prop Ben Alexander scored two close-range tries to help the ACT Brumbies secure a 24-22 victory over South Africa's Sharks in a tense Super 14 match in Canberra Saturday. The Sharks, one of the teams expected to make the semifinals before the competition began, have now lost all five of their matches this season. “That's hard to lose like this. We've had five games now and lost four like this,” Sharks captain John Smit said.
