Gregor Townsend providing a positive update on Finn Russell and Darcy Graham after Scotland’s defeat to Ireland.

Scotland fell to an 11th straight defeat against Ireland, who eased to a 32-18 win at Murrayfield on Saturday to move to the top of the Six Nations standings.

It was a disastrous start for Scotland, as they fell 17-0 down in the early stages and had Russell and Graham forced off after a nasty clash of heads.

Russell was able to walk off off the pitch and passed a Head Injury Assessment (HIA), but the decision was made for him not to return to the pitch.

Graham received lengthy treatment on the pitch before he was stretchered off in a neck brace.

"Finn is fine,” Townsend said after the match.

“He actually passed his HIA but our staff sensed he wasn't totally aware of what was going on, so we made the call to not put him back on.

"Darcy is at hospital now, I've not had an update. I think everything was OK with his neck but they were checking out concussion.”

Scotland also had Duhan van der Merwe sent to the sin-bin in a poor first-half, and that 17-point deficit proved too much to claw back.

A Van der Merwe try and two penalties from Blair Kinghorn got Scotland to within six points early in the second period, but Ireland pulled away as they secured another bonus-point win.

"When they had the ball, they scored,” Townsend said. “The yellow card made it tough for us to get back in the game. Then the injuries disrupted things.

"I felt the players were building back into the game, but once Ireland got back into our 22 they showed how clinical they are. When you are behind on the scoreboard against a quality side, you need to make sure they don't get more opportunities.

"We'll get learnings. Accuracy would be the number one thing."