Eddie O'Sullivan labelled Scotland "deluded" after they slumped to a seventh successive defeat against Ireland at the Aviva Stadium. 

Andy Farrell's Irish side entered their final game of the Autumn Nations Cup under some pressure following the loss in Twickenham and the deeply underwhelming performance against Georgia. 

But Ireland, with a number of first rank players back in the side, returned to some semblance of form against the Scots in the third-place playoff. 

Despite a slow-ish start, three tries either side of half-time from Keith Earls (2) and Cian Healy enabled the hosts to win with relative comfort in the end.

Aside from Scotland's competitive performance in the Aviva in February, where they lost 19-12, the margin on Saturday was roughly in line with what we have come to expect in this fixture in recent years, 31-16 the final scoreline. 

It was Ireland's fifth successive victory over Scotland and their seventh-in-a-row at home. The Scots have won just one of their 13 games in Dublin in the 21st century, a Dan Parks inspired 23-20 win in Croke Park in 2010. 

In his post-match interview, Scotland full-back Stuart Hogg said his team controlled much of yesterday's game and "were on the right track to achieving something special."

O'Sullivan, who enjoyed a 100% record against Scotland in the Six Nations between during his coaching tenure (2002-08), was dismissive of the notion in his post-match analysis on RTÉ. 

"We've seen all this before," said O'Sullivan of Scotland. "They always talk themselves up. They always talk a great game.

"They've some deluded notion that they're better than they are. I'm not being harsh. These guys haven't won here in 10 years.

"They've won three times against Ireland in 20 years. It's just deluded. They talk themselves up, they come in and then they implode. 

"We've seen this time and time again, and he talks about them being onto something special."