SIX NATIONS/Ireland...43 Scotland...22: A stange, patternless, rythymless match really. Ireland had only to defend like dervishes and then occasionally scale the heights to put away a pedestrian Scottish side. Just like that. And then an almost uninvolved Lansdowne Road headed for the bars.

Moving on from two seasons ago and Ireland's near identikit Twickenham defeat, this came within a point of the pivotal 44-22 win over the Scots, yet it wouldn't have sat right if Ireland had eclipsed that record win. Whereas the backbone of that earlier victory had been a whirlwind 44 points without reply in the meat of the match, Ireland hardly put together one sustained bout of continuity this time, much less a sustained spell of superiority.

Engaging the Scots more in smash and grab skirmishes than full-on combat, Ireland were certainly every bit as ruthless as they stealthily converted their opportunities (outscoring the Scots by five tries to one as opposed to five tries to three two seasons ago).

Once again a couple of the tries were from turnovers as Ireland applied the pressure, reverting to a more in-yer-face style of defence which again revolved around the excellent Kevin Maggs, and then fed off the Scottish mistakes. Budge Pountney having conceded six points and 10 minutes in not so splendid isolation (time and referees seemingly having caught up with the Scottish spoiler and serial offender), for reasons best known to themselves it was then that the Scots started playing catch-up prematurely.

Though Townsend tried his box of tricks, they hadn't the wit or the pace to hurt Ireland out wide. Take an example in the 66th minute, Scotland seemingly having the numbers out wide again only for Maggs to drift across three of them as the ball was moved before easily nailing Chris Paterson.

The restart game was inestimably better, signalled by David Humphreys' initial kick-off to the right which led to a surprised Paterson knocking on. Whereas Ireland gave themselves no chance of winning their own restarts at Twickenham, that first one yielded three points and a later, more attacking restart up the middle (won jointly by Malcolm O'Kelly and Eric Miller) provided the territorial base for Brian O'Driscoll's first try.

Admittedly the lineouts misfired again, Ireland losing six of their own throws which went some way toward depriving them of any platform. Indeed, the statistical evidence of the match virtually tears up the script on perceived theories about the modern-day game, such as the team with the more proficient lineout, which wins more ball, has more territory, makes more passes and more offloads in the tackle, even has more penalties, will duly win the game.

Scotland had all of the above yet were well beaten on the only scorecard which counts. Go figure. Well, for starters the one statistic where Ireland had much the higher tally was tackles, making 101 to Scotland's 41.

Scotland were intent on attacking Ireland in midfield but Maggs and O'Driscoll invariably had the answers. The pair worked in tandem brilliantly and forced four turnovers, either in possession or penalties, by contesting the ball in the tackle while on their feet.

Two steals by Maggs after the break led to long-range penalties by David Humphreys. By comparison, James McLaren was checked by Maggs's decoy run and didn't drift on to O'Driscoll for the Irish centre's first try, and then McLaren drifted off O'Driscoll to leave a big hole between the centres for his third try.

The Irish defence remained the bedrock for victory, but as that first try signalled it was the gamebreaking genius of yer man - on whom even the dressing-room confers God-like qualities - coupled with the boot of Humprheys, which provided the essential difference between the sides. No rocket science required here, really.

Take his three tries, add in his creation of Shane Horgan's, with three of them converted and there's a sound argument for making O'Driscoll chiefly responsible for the 21-point winning margin.

A year before he broke into the Irish team Mike Ruddock, Kurt McQuilkin and others were saying they hadn't seen a centre to "straighten the line" like the then 18-year-old in years. His third try yesterday, and mostly his run and left-to-right pass for Horgan's, underlined this priceless ability. (Eric Miller deserves mention too for the quick-witted, risk-free triple-skip pass to O'Driscoll, mindful as he was that Nigel Whitehouse was playing an advantage to Ireland).

It's the speed and daring of O'Driscoll's rugby brain which sets him apart as well. For his second try - a 70-metre intercept from Brendan Laney's knock-on - the skill in executing such a pick-up at full tilt takes some beating. But it was also the decision to go for it, when most players might have put boot to ball. But then, thinking back, he usually does go for it - witness his try off a pick-up which completed his hat-trick in Paris two seasons ago.

This second hat-trick elevates him to third in Ireland's try-scoring pecking order, one above Denis Hickie (and Keith Crossan) in the race to beat Brendan Mullin's record of 17. It has always been a matter of time.

To say that O'Driscoll was the sole difference between the sides would be a gross disservice to his team-mates, Maggs in particular. John Hayes is deserving of particularly mention, "The Bull" somehow shuffling his 19-stone frame around the park for 80 minutes to lead Ireland's tackle count with 11.

David Wallace, helped by Townsend unerringly picking him out with his restarts, ran the ball back strongly and tackled well. Peter Stringer's consistent excellence we take for granted, but we never should, Anthony Foley and O'Kelly worked particularly hard and Humphreys used the second-half wind well in a relatively understated performance.

His goalkicking was excellent though, steadying Ireland through the third quarter with three longish penalties which helped him equal Michael Kiernan's Irish record of 308 points and forced the Scots to play catch-up, from which Horgan's pick up and Humphreys's finger-tip switch put Simon Easterby over for the killer score.

Cue the big screen showing O'Driscoll as man-of-the-match, then his third try with the next play. Much more of these bottles of bubbly and O'Driscoll will have to build his own cellar.

For on this day, more than any other since Paris two years ago, even O'Driscoll's team-mates acknowledged that they were blessed to have him in such vintage form.