Irish reaction: The tattoo of raindrops on the marquee; the hurried gait of supporters huddled beneath coats as they tried to escape the weather; the grey, dank shadows of a stadium that had hosted its final Six Nations Championship match before redevelopment - all offered a suitably bleak backdrop to Ireland's win over Scotland.

There was no a touch of romance, no fanfare of fluency and flair, to mark Ireland's final Six Nations Test at the world rugby's oldest international venue. It was hardly a fitting swansong, except on the scoreboard.

Even the Ireland players seemed eager to escape the place, shepherded onto the team bus as just four stayed behind to offer thoughts to the media, a process as shambolic as it was brief. It seems nothing can be scripted properly these days.

Or can it? Coach Eddie O'Sullivan and captain Brian O'Driscoll were satisfied with the win over a brave if limited Scottish side. From their vantage it's a reasonable stance.

Ireland had tried to play some rugby, got nowhere and, as the weather played havoc, dusted off a different gameplan.

Ronan O'Gara drilled the ball into the corners and the pack continued to excel as they had done all afternoon. It was the easiest six-point victory you're likely to see in the Six Nations. Scotland produced nothing out of the ordinary. They were entirely predictable and largely pedestrian with the ball, but wonderfully aggressive and tight-knit in defence.

The Irish had done their homework, dismantling the Scottish lineout with ease. Maybe the new Scotland have taken one or two legacies from the former regime, one being the lineout playbook. Niall O'Donovan deserves credit for masterminding not alone the pilfering of Scottish ball but also Ireland's 100 per cent tally from their own throw.

In this respect hooker Jerry Flannery, who had a sensational game in every facet, deserves a special mention - one of the moments of the day was to see him wink and smile at the Scottish flanker Jason White as they prepared for a scrum 30 seconds after the Scot had emptied him with a huge tackle.

O'Sullivan concurred without singling out anyone by name.

"I am very proud of the team. They played for the 80 minutes and the bedrock of that performance was the lineout. It wasn't going to be a fingertip game, more a case of rolling up the sleeves and getting stuck in.

"We caused them huge problems. Another (thing) that pleased me was our defence, which I thought was superb. In fairness I thought their defence was magnificent. For the purist I thought it was a bloody good game."

While much of Ireland's back play lacked fluency and direction, what the coach will have appreciated is that the players had the intelligence to change tactics, a point referred to by O'Driscoll.

"It was difficult to play rugby out there given the conditions, but we adapted the gameplan and it worked well, particularly in the second half when we played smart rugby.

"Once again I thought we played all the rugby and dominated for large stretches of the match. I had said to the boys before the match that the game could come down to one score and that we were going to have to play for the full 80 minutes."

Perhaps the team and management had a better appreciation of how the game would unfold and therefore tempered unrealistic expectation.

There were a number of outstanding performances, the pack in general, but principally Flannery, Paul O'Connell, Malcolm O'Kelly and David Wallace.

O'Connell continued with a theme that by now had become familiar, extolling the Scottish virtues while expressing satisfaction at a job well done.

"We're happy with the win. Of course we'd like to have scored a few more tries but we're not beating ourselves up about it."

The players seem a little wearied by the nitpicking over their victories this season. Privately they will be aware that they have only occasionally hit their straps, and the scope for improvement is significant in that respect, even following England's risible performance against France.

But there is no sense of panic or unease. This is a team that's comfortable and confident even if many outside the camp are less sanguine about their chances.

They have clipped a few hurdles en route to Twickenham but are still upright and in the fast lane, chasing championship victory and a possible coronation.