O'Driscoll was named man-of-the-match

Ireland captain Brian O'Driscoll was delighted that his side's Murrayfield jinx was finally ended with a 36-6 win over Scotland.

O'Driscoll, who just pipped fly-half David Humphreys for the man-of-the-match award, admitted it was an overdue victory after 18 years without a win in Edinburgh.

''It was a long time coming,'' said O'Driscoll.

''To put the ghosts of Murrayfield to rest with a scoreline like that is very satisfying.

''We played very well in the first quarter, but took our foot off the pedal slightly coming up to half-time.

''We were a bit lacklustre also at the start of the second half, but after that I felt we played really, really well.

''One satisfying point for us is that we didn't concede a try.

''We have worked very hard on our defence in recent months and it has paid off handsomely.

Today we defended so well and took our chances when they came along David Humphreys

"It's a great start for us, and if we had woken up the next day and read in the papers that we had lost, we would be very disappointed.

''But now we can get ready for Italy, who have come off a great win against Wales.

''The Italians will give us a very tough game, but we will relish it now.''

Irish points hero David Humphreys put his side's first victory at Murrayfield since 1985 down to the right preparation.

''We had our record at Murrayfield rammed down our throats in the past,'' said Humphreys, who contributed 26 points.

''We talked a lot about that and we said that we had to end it some time, so why not this team?

''Today we defended so well and took our chances when they came along.''

Ireland lock Gary Longwell was in no doubt why Ireland succeeded in breaking that Murrayfield hoodoo.

''We set out not to let ourselves be bullied by Scotland,'' said Longwell.

''Ever since 1985 we have been beaten physically by Scotland, but we had aimed not to wilt today.

''Instead we went out to pressurise Scotland and it paid off.'

''The line-outs were something we worked on quite a lot on in the build-up.

''The last time in Murrayfield they second-guessed us and were always waiting to ambush us.

''Not this time.''