Kidney reckons 'it's a crack'

Ireland coach Declan Kidney refused to consider the Grand Slam despite Saturday's 22-15 RBS 6 Nations victory over Scotland at Murrayfield.

The Irish head to Cardiff next Saturday needing a win to complete their first clean sweep since 1948 while champions Wales will be gunning for the title.

‘We managed to win a game today. Let's see what happens. We have to play Wales in Cardiff which is a very difficult thing to do,’ said Kidney

‘We want to celebrate this night and we'll start looking at Wales during the week.

‘It's a crack, and that's how we'll treat this week. That's the way we've treated it all the way through.’

Ireland trailed 12-9 at the interval to four Chris Paterson penalties but should have been further behind given Scotland's control of the first half.

However, a 50th-minute try from Jamie Heaslip saw the pendulum swing in Ireland's favour with the boot of Ronan O'Gara closing out the victory.

‘In the first half we conceded a lot of field position and played a lot of the game in our own half,’ said Kidney.

‘They picked off their points very well. If we continued that way there was no chance we were going to win.

‘It's very difficult to win a match from your own half, especially when Chris Paterson is kicking all his points.’

Ireland were a different side in the second half, pulverising the monster Scots pack up front in a display that had Munster's stamp all over it.

Skipper Brian O'Driscoll admitted there were a few worried looks in the dressing room but expected nothing less from Scotland.

‘We were concerned. We realised we were in a tough Test match,’ said the Leinster centre.

‘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 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.’