Ireland full-back Rob Kearney has defended head coach Declan Kidney after his side's 12-8 loss to Scotland yesterday.

A number of supporters appeared to be unhappy at Kidney's leadership of the team following the result, which was their second consecutive loss following England's 12-6 win in Dublin.

However, Kearney insists that the players must take the blame for the loss, despite dominating large periods of the game.

"On a day like that when we had so much possession and created so much, the blame has to be on the players," he said.

"The coaches can't make that final pass for you or make that clinical decision. The players must take responsibility and must bear the brunt. The guys were happy with the gameplan and how we were playing the game. We created opportunities

"The stats show that we played the right way. It was just one of those days when you can't really explain things. It was very disappointing as we should have won and as a team we have to take responsibility for that."

The result left Ireland fourth in the table, level on points with Italy.