O'Callaghan tackles the hard issues

The Munster lock tells John O'SullivanIreland's lack of polish was more than offset by a reassuring resolve and maturity

Donncha O'Callaghan was one of the last Ireland players to leave, quitting a dressingroom festooned with the usual post-match debris: discarded tape, bottles and sundry items. While his team-mates had already clambered aboard the bus that would whisk them to the Balmoral hotel, the secondrow had been attending to one final formality: the post-match drugs test.

It's a random selection and a chore players prefer to avoid, for no other reason than that dehydration can make it difficult to provide a sample. There's a great deal of fluid intake required and usually a prolonged wait for nature to take its course.

Munching an apple, he considered the events of the previous two hours. There was the obligatory question about the Ronan O'Gara incident.

"I'll be honest and I'm not just covering my ass, all I saw was (John) Hayes over him (Ronan O'Gara) and taking out his gumshield," he said. "To be honest, I got a fright.

"I got a fright before when we played Glasgow away and their prop (Euan) Murray was knocked out cold. I remember him getting up and it was a horrible scene. They went for the doctor immediately and it was horrible to see someone in that kind of distress.

"This was another moment like that, where you see a buddy on the ground; he was ashen-faced. Straight away you couldn't give a damn about victories or anything like that; your sole concern is just for him. Fair play to Hayes for having the presence of mind to do what he did.

"I'm glad he came out of it well and everything was grand but if there was any malice there, I think it should be dealt with."

The official statement from the Scottish management argued none of their players had a case to answer.

It would be an exaggeration to say the incident took the gloss off a third Triple Crown triumph in four years, because the display had a distinctly matt finish. Ireland hauled themselves over the winning line with arguably their most disciplined passages of play in those closing throes, forcing the Scots to cough up the two penalties that yielded a one-point win.

It was probably a combination of factors that muted the green-shirted celebrations, at least from those on the pitch side of the whitewash.

"It was a bit frustrating, really, O'Callaghan admitted. "If you look around the dressingroom fellas weren't chuffed with the way we performed. I think we played to their pace and never upped the ante ourselves, which was a huge thing.

"It showed great character to win coming back from five points down. We've all been on teams when the wheels have fallen off and panic can start to take over. That's where the big players stepped up. (Denis) Leamy made great breaks and others stepped up.

"We just raised the levels when basically our backs were to the wall. It's good to test that every now and again. Granted you'd rather have gone out and put in a more consistent performance and played to the levels of which we are capable, but in those circumstances you can learn things about yourself and the team.

"It just felt like as if there was maturity to the display in that period, almost as if fellas were showing that this is how we close off games. Maybe that's come on a bit from France.

"It was a great feeling when you realised that we were capable of upping the ante at that point to dig out a win and that's exactly what we did."

O'Callaghan - a bit like John Hayes - is often overshadowed in terms of headlines by other luminaries in the pack, but as with the big Bruff prop, his work ethic is valued by team-mates. On Saturday, he led the official match statistics, along with David Wallace, as Ireland's top tackler with nine. He was responsible for two turnovers and that was outside of his normal duties, which he performed with the usual efficiency.

A couple of weeks ago he spoke about his desire to be involved in a post-match discussion where he would enjoy a higher profile, not for kudos but for professional satisfaction.

"As I said to you then, I don't think there'll be any difference in terms of me putting in a big performance. I'll just be in the right place at the right time, rather than doing anything differently.

"I'm happy with the way I am fitting in around the team. I feel now I have a certain amount of respect from the lads. They know I'm going to do a certain amount of work or know that I have their inside and they can push off: stuff like that. It comes from playing non-stop. It was good to get a bit of performance."

The final comment was typically understated from a player winning his 33rd cap at Murrayfield. If stand-out cameos are a reward for hard work, honesty and attention to detail, he seems destined to attract the spotlight in the weeks and months ahead.