Worm has turned as Irish enjoy rude health

On Rugby:It's hard to credit that not so long ago Scotland were Ireland's primary nemesis, bugbear, bete noire and bogey side all rolled into one. Admittedly, Irish teams endured worse beatings and a longer run of losses against France especially, and have never beaten the All Blacks, but what grated was the annoying feeling that Scotland shouldn't be inherently superior.

Brendan Mullin, for example, had a particularly good try-scoring record against the Scots but in nine meetings with them only experienced two wins, in his debut season of 1984-85 and three years later. Others who followed him into the Irish team weren't even that lucky, Ireland going 12 meetings with only one draw to show for them from 1988 until the turn of the millennium.

Ireland's long-time record try-scorer until another Blackrock/Leinster outside centre came on the scene, (Denis Hickie and Shane Horgan have also overtaken him), Mullin wasn't alone in frequently coming off Lansdowne Road or Murrayfield and wondering how the hell Ireland had lost.

Indeed, nothing encapsulates the cyclical nature of rugby, and indeed sport, quite like the Ireland-Scotland fixture, which began with Scotland winning 14 of the first 15 meetings. Even Ireland's current sequence of six successive wins over the Scots remains some way short of Ireland's longest winning run in the fixture, the nine-in-a-row which began in 1939 and then, after World War II, continued with eight more victories until 1954. Other spells of supremacy regularly mark the history of the fixture.

At times during the Naughty 90s, Scotland didn't have to be particularly good and won some dreadful encounters. You sensed they could have sent over the Edinburgh Boys Brigade and still won. Clearly there was something psychological as well as cyclical at work.

Suddenly, though, with one bound, Ireland were free. Yet the backdrop to the clash at Lansdowne Road in 2000, one of the seismic days in Irish rugby and ultimately the starting point for the current era of success, was not especially promising. Ireland had followed up the nightmare of Lens with a record 50-18 defeat to England in Twickenham.

Stories are legion of the ensuing Monday week when the squad came together in Greystones and a particularly abrasive, hard-edged approach from the Munster players, who themselves were building their own momentum toward their first appearance in the Heineken European Cup final that season.

Warren Gatland, the head coach, and Donal Lenihan, the manager, were probably one more defeat away from the sack and/or resignation. Ireland blooded five new caps in Shane Horgan, Ronan O'Gara, Peter Stringer, John Hayes and Simon Easterby, while also recalling Mick Galwey, Denis Hickie and Girvan Dempsey.

Ireland won 43-22, Humphreys playing a telling role off the bench. Ireland thrashed Italy and Brian O'Driscoll produced his Parisian hat-trick. We will never know what would have happened the following season but for the foot-and-mouth crisis which obliged Ireland to play Scotland in Edinburgh in a rearranged match the following September, following that 32-10 defeat up with wins over Wales and England.

It remains a matter of some regret that in the events of sides finishing level, the Six Nations doesn't emulate many other rugby and sporting competitions by employing head-to-head records rather than points difference, for Ireland would have been declared champions.

In any event, Ireland have won their last half-dozen matches with Scotland and the worm has turned. Both unions were among the most vehemently opposed to the onset of professionalism and yet over a decade on Ireland are in comparatively rude health. The IRFU have the vast bulk of their stars based at home, huge crowds follow the provinces in Europe and the Magners Celtic League and there has been tangible success on the pitch while compared to the Scots, commercially the game is buoyant.

The Scottish game is also bereft of crowds, their district sides have had minimal success and now their players are starting to leave again. In truth, the relative health of Scottish rugby, primarily its playing and supporter bases, had perhaps been something of a myth.

History will assuredly record that Jim Telfer and Ian McGeechan covered a multitude. They were ahead of their time in terms of analysis and attention to detail and they have left a huge void on the training ground. Furthermroe, Andy Irvine was not alone in forecasting a decade ago that professionalism would be catastrophic for Scottish rugby. Their union had spent all its reserves and more on a spanking new, state-of-the-art Murrayfield which was completed in 1993 and then became embroiled in a damaging rift with the clubs, who steadfastly resisted the union's moves towards making composite or district sides professional.

Saddled by debt, without crowds and marketing (there is little or no Scottish rugby on terrestrial television), the Scottish union struggled to keep pace with the spiralling costs and competitiveness of professionalism, abandoning first a Caledonian district, then one from the Borders before reviving the latter. None of the three professional districts have remotely suitable or adequate facilities yet with the annual cost of running the professional game estimated at £6 million the debt, which was £9 million three years ago, is now £25 million.

Ireland still have to make up for lost time in terms of developing facilities and stadiums, but the net result is that we have a relatively vibrant sport, whereas the Scots have a stadium but a shell of a game. Back in the Naughty Nineties, that would have been unimaginable.