Scots hand victory to Ireland

'This does a lot for the morale. We were at an all-time low at Twickenham, because we went there thinking we had a realistic chance of winning, and we got stuffed. To pick it up right away and perform at this level is very satisfying.'

In the context of their thrashing by England at HQ a fortnight earlier, Ireland deserve plaudits for this performance, even if the line-out looked a mess and the scrum less than solid.

At least one of those areas may be improved by the time Italy visit Dublin in three weeks' time, with Harlequins and Lions hooker Wood hopeful of recovering from the calf injury which has blighted his season.

After the Italians, of course, comes a little trip to Paris - scene of O'Driscoll's first Six Nations hat-trick in the victory two years ago - for a possible championship decider.

'We can't look at it in terms of winning the championship, not for this team,' said Wood. 'From being bottom of the pile four years ago, we are still gradually climbing the ladder. We get too high and too low in this country. We got too high after beating Wales and too low after losing at Twickenham.

'We played pretty well to beat the Scots and now we want to concentrate on beating Italy.

'O'Driscoll had one of his days. I believe he is the only one who can do some of the things he does. For Horgan's try, to pick up from his toes and pass 20 yards was fantastic. Forget about his hat-trick - that was the moment for me.

'He is improving all the time. It's nice to think that he'll get even better.'

Ireland were 9-3 down before O'Driscoll scored his first try, in the 25th minute, while Horgan's touchdown eight minutes later established a 15-9 lead.

Bang on half-time came the individual effort of the match, O'Driscoll brilliantly scooping up a Brendan Laney dropped ball inside the Irish 22 and racing clear of every blue jersey for a superb score.

At the interval, David Humphreys turned to O'Driscoll and joked about the possibility of a hat-trick, saying: 'Never mind three, I want four from you today.'

It's hard to imagine the stand off being disappointed that his wish wasn't granted, as Simon Easterby's 65th-minute try and O'Driscoll's third, in the last minute, easily made up for allowing Martin Leslie to score for the Scots.

The visitors, sent homeward to think again, could only marvel at the O'Driscoll magic - and brood about the prospect of facing the flying French next.

Northampton prop Tom Smith admitted: 'We gave Ireland an easy ride. It's going to be a pretty poor season all round if we don't beat France. We need to be more critical of ourselves.'