Three big takeaways from Ireland v Scotland

PEAKING NOW: Andrew Porter of Ireland after his side's victory over Scotland at the Stade de France. Pic: Harry Murphy/Sportsfile

Ireland are peaking 

Easy to forget it now but Ireland weren’t exactly impressive in the warm-up games against Italy, England, and Samoa. They were still winning games, yes, but the clinical execution that we saw in New Zealand over a year ago and on Saturday was absent.

Go back still further and they were no more than decent by their own exalted standards in the autumn and the back end of their Grand Slam success in the Six Nations was lacking in terms of a complete performance or a team operating at full tilt.

Now they’ve done the needy against Romania and Tonga, hung in there against the Springboks, and blown Scotland away with their best attacking display in over a year. Ireland have been historically terrible at peaking for World Cups. This looks different.

This team can win any which way 

There were unifying themes to the wins against South Africa and Scotland in the defensive stints and the breakdown successes but Andy Farrell’s side blew their Six Nations neighbours away after surviving on the ropes against the Boks.

This ability to think and adapt on the fly, to do the job that needs doing at any given moment, doesn’t just hold for the collective. It holds for the individuals involved as well with men routinely transferred to alternative duties in games.

The Boks seemed to be doing this just because they can. Ireland do it when they have to, but the performances by Jamison Gibson-Park and Garry Ringrose on the wings speak for an adaptability and game intelligence that they may need again depending on injuries.

The haves and the have nots 

Scotland came into this tournament ranked fifth in the world and with former player John Jeffrey declaring them to be the best team ever to wear the thistle on their chests and yet they fell miles short of what was required against Ireland.

The manner of their loss actually brought to mind Ireland’s heavy loss to France in the quarter-finals of the 2003 tournament in that the losers weren’t necessarily a bad team so much as one that had reached its level and lacked depth and consistency.

There is a gulf between the top four teams in world rugby now and the rest although some would say that the big four is actually a big three because of New Zealand’s recent results. Saturday will be the judge of that.