In the first two games of their Guinness Six Nations title defence, Ireland have shown an ability to win in different ways.
In the opening victory against England, their bench reinforcements powered them home in the second half after what had been a slow and messy first 40 minutes.
Yesterday at Murrayfield it was a different story, as they came out hot with a 17-0 lead which they comfortably managed for a second bonus-point win to start their title defence.
"We had spoken about a fast start and I think we did that pretty well scoring within the first ten minutes and applying quite a bit of pressure," Ireland captain Caelan Doris, scorer of the second try on 30 minutes, said.
"Tries don't come too frequently for me. I think it's only my second in the Six Nations so yeah, it was a nice moment.
"When you get up a couple of scores, it's very enjoyable. It’s enjoyable to be part of this group in general. The lads love representing the group, love representing the country. It was a very enjoyable one today."
The Ireland captain’s try made it 17-0 with half an hour played, but such was their dominance of the first half, that scoreline flattered a Scottish team who barely laid a glove on the visitors in the opening 30 minutes.
Between Calvin Nash and Doris’s tries, Ireland were twice held up over the line by a scrambling Scottish defence, while the hosts were also reduced to 14 men for 10 minutes when Duhan van der Merwe was yellow-carded.
Doris was one of those held up over the line, shortly after Rónan Kelleher was stopped at the end of a rolling maul. But the Leinster number 8 believes his side drew on their experience at Murrayfield two years ago when they stayed composed despite a plethora of injuries.
"Backing what we do [was the message]. The game over here [in 2023] epitomised the calm in chaos and trusting that we'll figure things out as we go on the pitch.
"I think it was the most experienced Irish team ever in terms of caps and I think that showed in terms of the calmness there.
"Coming in together, taking a breath, acknowledging where we're at and getting back to the plan fairly quickly. We saw that today and we saw that two years ago. It's been a real strength of ours over the last number of years," he added.
For Scotland, it was an all-too familiar feeling as their losing streak against Ireland stretches out to 11 games dating back to 2017.
"Ireland are ruthless, they're clinical, and they make you feel like you're under a massive amount of pressure," Scotland co-captain Rory Darge said.
"It's a tough scoreline to take. I think probably the most obvious difference is just how clinical Ireland were and we weren't clinical enough.
"I think it felt like they just took their opportunities better.
"I think the fight was there from everyone on the pitch until the end, but in terms of scoring, getting away from us, it came down to errors from our side and the reverse on their side.
"Ireland got into our 22 too often and, with a team who are as clinical as they are, you're always going to have a tough day."
The flanker also said he had no regrets over his team’s decision to take three points with a penalty under the posts on 49 minutes, rather than going for a try which could have turned the game on its head.
Having pegged Ireland back to 17-8, the hosts had Ireland on the ropes early in the second half, but after chipping over another three points to cut the deficit to six, it was as close as they would get to the defending champions, who struck for a crucial try to pull clear four minutes later.
"It's one of those things, you back yourself there to go for the three and then it's a six-point game, one-score game and we've got to just sort of exit better [after the restart]," he added.
"But then they turn the ball over and we turn it immediately over again. So, you know, we're looking at a good place there and I'm not sure exactly what happened after that.
"We had five opportunities in their 22 and we lost the ball, whilst they were obviously very clinical. That's what I think the difference was."
