Triple Crown still sinking in - O'Sullivan

Ireland were tonight basking in the glory of their first Triple Crown in 19 years – and coach Eddie O’Sullivan admitted the achievement was only just beginning to sink in.

Today’s emphatic 37-16 triumph over Scotland completed Ireland’s clean sweep of home nations scalps following victories over Wales and England earlier in the championship, and O’Sullivan could not conceal his delight.

“Winning the Triple Crown is just beginning to hit home. We didn’t talk about it all week – we’ve kept our focus on beating the Scots and the Triple Crown is just a product of that,” he said.

“The atmosphere when we walked around the stadium at the end was fantastic. It brought home that we’d actually won something. It’s only after an event like this that you get the chance to look back on the achievement.”

Ireland’s players went on a lap of honour after the match and were given a glorious welcome from cheering fans who had witnessed their heroes claim the title in champagne style at Lansdowne Road.

Tries from Gordon D’Arcy (two), Geordan Murphy, David Wallace and Peter Stringer gave the home crowd plenty to celebrate as Ireland romped home with a sparkling performance full of attacking ambition.

But they were given a thorough workout by the Scots who overcame a poor opening spell to strike back in the second half with a try through Allister Hogg, converted by Chris Paterson, which levelled the score at 16-16.

Wallace crossed four minutes later, however, to put Ireland back in the driving seat and save for the odd flourish from the visitors, it was then all one-way traffic as O’Sullivan’s men scented blood.

“That was a very good to win. It was a difficult game of rugby as we came under a lot of pressure. Scotland gave their best performance of the Six Nations and we were prepared for that all week,” said O’Sullivan.

“We knew they would give their best in their last game and they did. The fact we were mentally ready for their challenge was very important. To respond the way we did to their try showed a lot of character and guts.

“When they came back at us we knew the game was on the line but we kept our composure and stuck to the gameplan that we’d been working on all week.”

O’Sullivan was reluctant to pick out a star performer after seeing Scotland crushed by a true team display but eventually he conceded two-try centre and man of the match D’Arcy was the pick of the bunch.

All eyes were on D’Arcy’s midfield partner Brian O’Driscoll before the match with the darling of Irish rugby about to pick up his 50th cap, but he was soon eclipsed by the dynamic Leinster back featuring beside him.

“There was some great rugby out there from us. I thought the pack was great but some of our back play was magnificent – two of the tries were straight off the training ground,” he said.

“Gordon enjoyed some great individual moments. He was fantastic. There was talk of Brian and Gordon not being a good partnership at the start of the championship, but I would back them against any centres in the world on current form.”

Scotland coach Matt Williams put a brave face on his side’s first Six Nations whitewash since 1985 – the wooden spoon will reside at Murrayfield this year - and praised the second-half fightback which hinted at a possible upset.

“We competed for an hour and did a lot of good things out there. Their try just before half time was heartbreaking but we showed spirit and clawed our way back into the game,” said the Australian.

“For our try we remained patient, took play through 12 or 13 phases and were rewarded. But then we rushed our opportunities in their 22. We got got down their three or four times but didn’t take the points.

“When Ireland got down our end get they took their chances and that’s why they are such a good team.”