Demolition job

IF Eddie O’Sullivan had dreamed of getting Ireland’s Six Nations Championship off to a better start, he could hardly have come up with anything as good as this.

To beat Scotland at Murrayfield was all he and his players wanted. After all, it was something that hadn't been achieved there since 1985.

Instead, they rattled up 36 points with only six against to consign the previous best against the Scots of 26-8 in 1953 to the scrap-heap.

O'Sullivan was right when he admitted the scoreline flattered Ireland, for this was a game delicately balanced as the Scots exerted fierce pressure in the quarter-hour immediately after half time. No way were Ireland 30 points the better side.

But the result will be a huge morale boost for the squad and it is interesting to note that two of the stars were David Humphreys, who played only because of injury to Ronan O'Gara, and Geordan Murphy, who came in as a second half replacement. There is depth in Irish rugby now and it showed yesterday.

A 13-point interval lead was very satisfactory from an Irish perspective because, the brilliant Brian O'Driscoll apart, they didn't perform very well in that period. From the moment that Denis Hickie did his level best to hand the Scots a seven-point lead after a mere 30 seconds by having his attempted clearance kick charged down by Bryan Redpath, the game abounded in unforced errors, the men in green as culpable as their hapless rivals.

Still, they fully deserved their lead, if only because the Scots offered little in the way of meaningful offence until just before the break when they contrived to throw away a great try scoring chance as Brendan Laney managed to miss the three men unmarked to his left. In many ways it was only fitting that kilted Kiwi Laney should have been the butt of Scottish anger, given that he was unlucky to avoid a sin binning for a high and dangerous tackle on O'Driscoll after 15 minutes.

If referee Andrew Cole from Australia believes such an assault merits only a penalty then rugby is on a dangerous path indeed. The Irish management didn't seem perturbed by the incident and indeed O'Driscoll laughed it off when asked if he still had all his teeth: "Yeah, the merits of having a gumshield...it's very difficult when you're coming across and someone steps back inside you not to stick out an arm. There are no hard feelings about it."

It is testimony to O'Driscoll's fortitude that he recovered quickly and proceeded to set the superb Murrayfield stadium alight with a magical mixture of feints, darts, dummies, sidesteps name it and he pulled it off. So it came as no surprise when the captain made the game-breaking try for Hickie on 30 minutes.

The way he weaved his way past two tacklers was sheer joy to behold, and even if he did lose his footing he had the presence of mind and the skill to recycle possession quickly enough for Peter Stringer to send Hickie over.

Humphreys is a confidence player and when things are going well and his team going forward, he is happiness personified. The more yesterday's game went on, the happier he became and he included a superb try in a 26- points personal haul that must have made him a close challenger to O'Driscoll for the man of the match tag.

Just when you were wondering if the Scots were ever going to give their supporters something to cheer about, they got points on the board through a Gordon Ross penalty and then laid the siege to the Irish line after a quickly- taken penalty saw them charge emphatically out of their own territory.

Tom Smith appeared to be everywhere as the Scots went in search of the try that might turn the game on its head. It looked as if Ireland had raised the siege, and the manner in which they defended one especially threatening close-range lineout was exemplary until Malcolm O'Kelly was seen by the touch judge to punch Simon Taylor in the face.

"We knew Scotland would always come after us in the second half," said coach O'Sullivan. "There was a time in the second half where they threw everything but the kitchen sink at us. They didn't hold back and when we cleared our lines, I took a deep breath to find we had been flagged and were back in our own 22 again. The turning point in the game came when we cleared out a second time."

By then, flanker Taylor was emerging as one of the most influential personalities in a game that had come very much alive. However, as far as the Scottish supporters were concerned, it just as quickly went dead again.

Humphreys kicked his fourth penalty and then Geordan Murphy produced a sensational piece of play to grab an opportunist but superbly taken individual try.

And there was even better to come, a beautiful piece of interplay between O'Driscoll and Hickie that paved the way for a Humphreys' try.

"I said during the week that I had no reservations about David coming in," said O'Sullivan. "He has played some superb games for Ireland, he is the consummate professional.

"He's been in big situations before and come through with flying colours. I think we have great luxury in Irish rugby at the moment to have two outhalves of the calibre of David and Ronan."

How coach Ian McGeechan would love to be able to say the same about the Scottish outhalf position or indeed any other behind the scrum. They were poor yesterday and McGeechan and his scrumhalf and captain Bryan Redpath (outplayed on the day by his opposite number Stringer) were hard pressed not to go beyond the word "disappointing" to describe their performance.

"We didn't function," said Redpath. "We had our chances to get back into the game but didn't take then and that's the harsh reality."

McGeechan took solace from his belief that "Ireland are a very good side that played some fine rugby".

"We created space in the first 15 minutes after half time but not getting anything out of all that pressure was crucial," he added. McGeechan, one of the game's wiliest coaches, must wonder where he goes from here.

In contrast, Ireland move on to Rome on Saturday with their morale sky high. Shane Horgan will probably miss that game but O'Sullivan has a ready-made replacement in Murphy.

For now, to use manager Brian O'Brien's words: "Ireland are on a roll."