Former Ireland captain Brian O’Driscoll has claimed that “Ireland’s fortunes have changed” following their Six Nations victory over Scotland.
Discussing the nation’s success in the professional era, O’Dricoll said: “Rory [Best] and I were lucky to have been part of those early years, and now the team in the last five, six years have taken it to another level.
“The expectation in the country remains very high, and we talked about the team being in transition. I think transition is a continuum. It’s relentless. You remain stacked, and people catch up with you.
“So I suppose sometimes we look at it as a dirty word. It should be used to be able to grow and develop and get better.”
Ireland were confident, clinical and utterly ruthless against the travelling Scots on Saturday, and O’Driscoll believes they left their best performance until last.
“I think they’ve left their best performance. I’d say today was probably even better than England. I thought they were very clinical against England, but I thought today they probably faced better opposition.”
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“It was so much closer than that”
Despite the immense performance from the Irish, O’Driscoll believes the visitors matched them all over the park.
“So much pressure on both teams coming into this one. I think both teams handled it pretty well. We got a great, great game of rugby.
“And actually, if you look at that score line, it’s certainly not a 43-21 game. It really wasn’t. It was so much closer than that. It was nip and tuck, right in the balance with 15 minutes to go, and then Ireland had a couple of blowout scores and it puts a little gloss on the overall finish of the game.
“But Scotland should be very proud as well, disappointed, but very proud, because they put in a great performance and had a huge part to play in a great test match.”
Contrasting fortunes
For one side, Triple Crown glory; on the other, bitter disappointment.
Drinking in the sweet victory, Ireland winger Tommy O’Brien reflected on the growth of the squad after touching down twice in the match.
“We’ve talked about it being an 18-month journey towards the 2027 World Cup,” he said after the game. “A big part of that is getting guys game time in big, big competitions like this, but also getting the country back on side.
“The start of France back in 2023, I was watching on at home, so the excitement to potentially be involved in something like that in 2027 and have the whole nation behind us, it’s incredible.”
On the flip side, Scotland captain Sione Tuipulotu was left to lick his wounds after yet another campaign that failed to end in success.
“I am proud of my group massively. The way we stuck to it after a tough start to the championship is difficult. But look, we want to be in the middle there, lifting the Triple Crown. That’s what we’re after.
“In this group, and what they’ve shown, is the potential now to build on this and come back and be involved in it again next year, I think so. We have to build, and we have to take another step forward.”