BRIAN O’DRISCOLL admitted there were a few worried looks in the dressingroom at Murrayfield on Saturday but said he expected nothing less from Scotland.

“We were concerned. We realised we were in a tough Test match,” he said. “It would take 75 to 80 minutes to beat the Scots and it panned out that way. It was no great surprise. We were down by three points at half-time and it could have been worse.

“But when you’re in the moment you don’t really worry about it, you just think about the next half and what you can do. We spoke about upping the intensity and I felt we did that.”

O’Driscoll hailed Ronan O’Gara, who overcame an indifferent Six Nations to become the highest points scorer in the championship’s history after eclipsing Jonny Wilkinson’s total of 479. “That’s Ronan. You don’t play at this level for 10 years and not have some mental strength,” he said. “Ronan has a lot of confidence and belief in his ability. That combined with his great work ethic produced that performance today.”

Denis Leamy’s fitness will be assessed after the Munster number eight sustained a shoulder injury, making room for Jamie Heaslip’s appearance after 30 minutes. Otherwise Declan Kidney insists Ireland will travel to Millennium Stadium with little more than a few bumps and bruises.

“We have to be prudent about the way we go about training this week,” he said. “Scotland was a very physical game. The games seem to get tighter and tighter and the forwards have put in a huge effort.

“Now it’s all about recovery and making sure we’re ready for the next one.”

Scotland coach Frank Hadden did his best to explain why his team gave away a half-time lead before losing the match.

“It was elementary errors in the second half that cost us. We secured only two out of six restarts and at the lineout won only two from five. That meant we didn’t have the possession necessary to get the territory we needed.”