Ronan O'Gara Six Nations Diary: That was brilliant. We gave them an eight-point start, and two or three years ago we might have folded, but there's a different maturity and experience within the team now. We pulled ourselves out of a hole and won handsomely in the end.

Once we got a bit of territory, as the forwards said they would do, we just started to run at them. The line-kicking had been on my mind all week, and I'm delighted with the way I responded. It meant a lot to me. Mentally it had been a tiring week. I couldn't go three minutes without visualising drilling the ball, kicking into the corners and finding touch. As I said, I wouldn't make the same mistake two games in a row, and that's the bit that pleased me the most.

They just stacked midfield with five or six each time. We were unlucky once or twice before we went ahead. Shaggy (Shane Horgan) did exceptionally well to nearly get on the end of a little chip. We'd been knocking on the door but the idea was to be direct and that's exactly where we demolished them.

The maul was outstanding for the first try, and Paul did brilliantly for the second try. I could see that Parks was there so I roared at Paul to go after him. Paul got a good steam up and then great momentum and strength got him in.

It was hard to do any footwork on the pitch. There was a lot of surface water from the track side of the pitch, making it wet on one side and alright on the other.

I'm especially delighted for the backline. We were missing two quality players but the credit of everyone involved goes up a notch because we proved that we're capable of performing whoever is involved.

From a personal point of view my performance was made easier by the pack, and I felt very much in control. Given it was my third game back after injury I feel it's starting to flow again.

Jason White running at you in the first few minutes is not what you want.

My game nearly ended there and then because I got my head on the wrong side. I copped that one but thankfully it wasn't anything serious.

Scotland talked a good game but it's one thing keeping a scoreline down like they did in Paris. I'm not being disrespectful toward them, but to actually go and win a game is different, and I won't stand for Ireland being added to a list of scalps including Japan and Samoa in the last 12 months. We're not that kind of team any more.

There was a fair bit of emotion and energy in our performance. We had an excellent team meeting on Friday. Paul spoke, Axel spoke, Simon spoke and Maggsy. It was great to hear from someone who watched the game in Rome back at home on their TV, and for the fellas in the team it gave them a good rocket up their rear. Fellas put their hands up and said they wanted to make the hard yards. It was great that they had the confidence to say that and that they delivered.

We were pretty pumped. We wanted to make sure we didn't scrape home. We wanted to put as many points on the Scots as possible. Denis got a lovely try off a great turnover by Maggsy, when their eight picked and he smashed him and got the ball back. I got hit and Shaggy did very well, dragging in two of them to pop it to me. The winger came in on me, I went over the top and although the ball took an age to come down Denis scored with a nice, old-school dive in the corner.

The Bull's try was brilliant. Scenes of Munster's semi-final win in Bordeaux all over again, and the 30-second count to get up off the deck. We'll have to have a look at the video and see how long it took him this time. You can be sure he wasn't going anywhere nearer the posts anyway. He was happy to find the nearest and softest patch to throw his big frame on to.

It was great to see Gavin Duffy score his first try to round things off.

Forty points away from home is a big achievement. Throughout the week the management have been great. Mike Ford takes each player aside and gives them a few areas to work on. Kicking with Mark Tainton and Humphs on Friday, with the Doc (Gary O'Driscoll) an ever-willing fetcher, went well. Fitness coach Mike McGurn, with me especially, has been like a big brother in terms of the work he puts in with me. Our video analyst Mervyn Murphy pulled me aside on Thursday and said he hadn't seen much of me this week. Get my ass into the bunker!

These little things stand to you when you go behind. There could have been scenes like that re-arranged game here four years ago.

That's two down with three to go, though obviously now England is the only one to consider. We've got two hard away games out of the way. We've improved from week one to week two, which is what you want, and I'd like to think there is more improvement for week three.

PS. Congratulations to Marcus Horan who won the "Bulb-off" yesterday on the way home in a competition for head size, fending off stiff competition from Donncha, Frankie and Shane Byrne.