Ireland coach Eddie O'Sullivan praised his side for "rolling up their sleeves" to beat Scotland at Lansdowne Road. "It was pretty miserable out there and difficult to play rugby. We had to get into the trenches against a good Scottish side," said O'Sullivan.
"Scotland came at us right to the end and our defence was magnificent.
"We probably overplayed the football sometimes in the conditions, trying to off-load the ball when it would have been better to hold on to it."
O'Sullivan revealed that Ireland had worked on making a better start.
"We talked all week about the first 10 or 15 minutes," added the Ireland coach.
"We took it to Scotland and got the crowd behind us, something we had not done recently.
"Right through the match our standard was good. Our line-out work was fantastic."
Man-of-the-match Paul O'Connell said it was great to be in with a chance of the Triple Crown and Six Nations title.
"We were criticised early in the season but now are just one game away from the championship.
"However, it is against England at Twickenham so it is going to be tough."
MMIX
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