Former Ireland captain Brian O\u2019Driscoll has claimed that \u201cIreland\u2019s fortunes have changed\u201d following their Six Nations victory over Scotland.<\/p>\n
Discussing the nation\u2019s success in the professional era, O\u2019Dricoll said: \u201cRory [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.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe expectation in the country remains very high, and we talked about the team being in transition. I think transition is a continuum. It\u2019s relentless. You remain stacked, and people catch up with you.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ireland<\/a> were confident, clinical and utterly ruthless against the travelling Scots on Saturday, and O\u2019Driscoll believes they left their best performance until last.<\/p>\n \u201cI think they\u2019ve left their best performance. I\u2019d 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.\u201d<\/p>\n Want more from Planet Rugby? Add us as\u00a0a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a>\u00a0for world-class coverage you can trust.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was so much closer than that\u201d<\/p>\n Despite the immense performance from the Irish, O\u2019Driscoll<\/a> believes the visitors matched them all over the park.<\/p>\n \u201cSo 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.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd actually, if you look at that score line, it\u2019s certainly not a 43-21 game. It really wasn\u2019t. 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.<\/p>\n \u201cBut 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.\u201d<\/p>\n England player ratings: Maro Itoje \u2018magnificent\u2019 and fellow star forward \u2018massive\u2019 as several players answer their critics<\/a><\/p>\n Contrasting fortunes<\/p>\n For one side, Triple Crown glory; on the other, bitter disappointment.<\/p>\n Drinking in the sweet victory, Ireland winger Tommy O\u2019Brien reflected on the growth of the squad after touching down twice in the match.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve talked about it being an 18-month journey towards the 2027 World Cup,\u201d he said after the game. \u201cA big part of that is getting guys game time in big, big competitions like this, but also getting the country back on side.<\/p>\n \u201cThe 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\u2019s incredible.\u201d<\/p>\n