Ireland need to win to save the season. Before the Championship got under way, Warren Gatland set a target of two wins. With a degree of luck that could have been achieved by now, as we should have beaten France.

The margin between success and failure in sport is small, as the players are well aware. The build-up to this game has been different to the high level of expectation before the England match.

Scotland, too, have lost to England, but they came far closer to winning at Twickenham than we did at Lansdowne Road. Nor can we take much comfort from our record at Murrayfield, where we have not won since 1985. In fact, the Scots have been our bogey team recently, which is surprising since our overall record against them is better than any other of the Five Nations teams.

Our best performance this championship was against France when the game was played at quite a slow pace, primarily because of the conditions. I remember watching the Scottish/Welsh match (played the same day) on television afterwards and the contrast between the two games was extraordinary.

In our second game, against Wales, we seemed to have the match won at half time due to our absolute forward dominance. When Wales speeded the game up in the second half, they got themselves back into it and it looked as if we might let the game slip.

Against England, although the score was quite close until late in the game, we were really on the back foot throughout. From the start, England played the game at a quick pace, retained possession superbly, and never let the Irish side settle.

In many ways England played against Ireland the way Scotland would normally try to play against England. England had the advantage, however, that allied to the speed with which they played was the strength of their set pieces. Scotland are not as strong in these areas and Ireland will try to establish an upper hand in both the scrums and the lineouts.

Our lineout against England was appalling, which was difficult to understand as our jumpers were not under any pressure getting to the ball, but there was a complete lack of control thereafter. A number of throws also seemed to miss the target. Gatland will have worked on this, and I expect we will see a big improvement.

The forwards did not perform well against England overall. Having reviewed the video, it seems they never really got out of the starting blocks, and while the main credit for this must go to the English pace, it sometimes happens that even the best prepared team underperforms for no obvious reason. The build-up and the hype may have got to them, but they certainly didn't look settled as a unit.

There was also an obvious lack of decision-making on the pitch. While Paddy Johns, as captain, must accept culpability for this, the main charges must be levelled at numbers eight, nine and 10 who, after all, control the game.

Conor McGuinness, in particular, seemed to be aware that the tactic of Victor Costello driving from the back of the turned scrum was not working and should have immediately demanded that we use other options. I presume that this afternoon it will be clear who is in charge here, as decisions can not be arrived at during a game by discussion and agreement.

It would be difficult not to adopt a more expansive pattern this afternoon, but I worry that in doing so we may play into the Scottish hands; the more open and quick the game the more it will suit the Scots. Our best chance is to dominate them up front by putting the ball in front of our forwards. We do not have the speed, skill, or subtlety in midfield to play an expansive game.

Scotland, on the other hand, are probably stronger in their backs than in their forwards. They look to have far more scoring potential, and certainly against England they created more gaps and scoring opportunities than our back line have done this year.

Gary Armstrong has done damage to Ireland every time he has played against us, and in Gregor Townsend they have a player who on his day is the most exciting around. He is excellent at creating space, and with him at out-half the style of game which Scotland will play is obvious.

Their wings, too, are much more in the classic mould of finishers. Indeed, neither of the Irish wings has had any opportunity this year to show themselves in attack. They have, on the other hand, defended extremely well.

The Irish players will have been hurt by the English defeat, but even more so by the comprehensive manner in which they were outplayed. A lot of reputations took a battering.

If we win, the coach will have achieved his target for the season. If we lose, we will have achieved similar results to recent years with only a victory against the Welsh to show.

There were signs in the first two matches that we have made considerable progress. Let's hope we won't be reviewing that assessment later today.