While Finn Russell and his band of backs often get the headlines after a big Scottish win, the platform for last weekend's emphatic 50-40 win against France was laid up front.
Their lineout and scrum had been maligned in the earlier rounds, ranking fifth and sixth in the championship, yet on Saturday both were near flawless. The scrum operated at 100%, winning two penalties, while their lineout went 14 out of 15 across the 80 minutes.
Their ball protection was literally perfect; 125 rucks won in attack, and none lost, while the team gave up a measly four penalties across the game.
All of that gave scrum-half Ben White the perfect platform to attack, which they did to devastating effect, racking up their highest ever points total against the French, and keeping the title race alive.
It’s nine years since Ireland were last beaten by Scotland, and the pair face off again on Saturday for a Triple Crown decider, with the winner also remaining in the hunt for the title.
One of the running themes of that Irish winning streak, particularly in recent years, has been how that same Scottish pack have been overpowered by Andy Farrell’s side.
They’ve gone after the Scottish lineout to great effect, they’ve held onto the ball and wore the Scottish defence down phase by phase, dominating the gainline and not allowing Russell to dictate the terms of engagement, allowing Scotland an average of just 11 points per game in that time.
If history is to repeat itself, and Ireland are to make it 12 in a row against their Celtic neighbours, stopping the Scots at source will be key.
"I suppose there's no real secret when it comes to international rugby. It's intent, physicality," Jack Conan said this week.
"They're an unbelievably well-coached, well-drilled team. If we play how we played against France in the opening 40 minutes and don't have that level of intent; you know they're a good pack, especially the back row, I think their back row is going really well at the moment.
"We need to be physically right on the edge, winning collisions. I think that’s something that since the France game has been a noted improvement across the campaign. That won't change from this week."
Conan made his debut against Scotland back in 2015, with nine of his 58 caps coming against them.
And he admits this weekend’s group are the best of the lot.
"I think they're probably playing the best [of any Scottish side].
"You know, they've obviously got some world-class players in there who are peaking at the right time. So fair play to them.
"Obviously, after the disappointing opening day, kind of not too strange to ourselves after how we went against France, their disappointing loss to Italy on the first day, they've bounced back really well and they're playing some great rugby.
"We need to be at our best and push on from the levels of performance, even from Twickenham that we had through the week, because we obviously haven't hit our straps as much as we did that day. So, that'll be the challenge for us, is to be better again than we were then.
"I know we've had good success against Scotland the last while but that'll count for nothing if we don't go out and perform.
"No one's going to look back and think, 'Ah yeah we beat them the last however many times we played them'. If we go out we're not as good as we possibly can be on the weekend.
"That's the challenge for us to be better again. History has no relevance really," he added.
Conan was man of the match for Ireland in last week’s 27-17 win against Wales, having missed the record 42-21 win away to England in Round 3 due to illness.
Despite that starring performance last week, the 33-year-old is likely to drop back to the bench for Saturday’s finale, with Andy Farrell expected to revert to his Twickenham starters.
However, Conan says there’s no job too big or too small when it comes to playing rugby for your country.
"You want to give as much as you can to the team, to the environment and have as much impact as you can.
"The dynamic of starting or being on the bench is not what it used to be. I think years ago it would have been taken as that I'm not good enough to start or I haven't played well enough to start. Now you're tasked with a different job.
"I know I'm well able to do both and I'm probably hoisted by my own petard with being good off the bench and having an impact.
"It's something I pride myself on as well as being able to come on and bring energy and lift lads around me and give them a boost.
"I'd like to think that whatever minutes I get, they see me run on and think 'Jack's on now, he can have a real impact here’ and lift the lads around me.
"It's an unbelievably important job and whether I'm starting this week or on the bench I'm going to take a lot of pride in the work and the opportunities that I have and making sure that I'm adding to every one around me and making people feel good because that's huge, especially around 50-60 minutes when you're a little bit fatigued and the games are tough, bringing energy, bringing voice, clarity is hugely important and you can bring lads with you and make a huge impact."
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Follow a live blog on Ireland v Scotland in the Six Nations on Saturday from 2.10pm on the RTÉ News app and on rte.ie/sport. Listen to commentary on Saturday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1.
Watch Wales v Italy (4.40pm) and France v England (8.10pm) on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player this Saturday.
