'Complete team' Ireland in driving seat for hat-trick
When Ireland emerged from a chaotic, injury-filled game at Murrayfield with a win two years ago, it put them on the verge of the Grand Slam.
There may be three rounds of fixtures left this year, but Sunday's 32-18 success in Edinburgh coupled with France's defeat by England on Saturday means they are the only team still capable of securing the clean sweep.
And given the manner in which they battered Scotland, having put England to the sword in the second half last week, the evidence suggests it will take an almighty effort from Wales, France or Italy to derail Ireland's hopes of a third successive Six Nations title.
All that is to come. For Ireland and interim boss Simon Easterby, though, Murrayfield was about laying down a marker. They achieved that emphatically to ensure a maximum return of 10 points from the first two weekends.
Ireland were clearly irked by how they bookended last week's win over England. They were slow out of the blocks, trailed at half-time and switched off in the closing stages after storming into a big lead in the second half, handing England two late tries and a losing bonus point.
As a result, the motivation from the Irish coaches and players in the build-up to Sunday's game was clear: silence Murrayfield quickly and shatter their hosts' dreams of a first green scalp since 2017.
That part of the gameplan was nailed, and it laid the groundwork for one of the most convincing triumphs of their 11-game winning streak against Scotland.
When Scotland and Ireland collide at Murrayfield, chaos usually ensues.
In 2023, Ireland lost hookers Dan Sheehan and Ronan Kelleher, Caelan Doris and Iain Henderson to injury but still eked out a win.
On Sunday, when Tadhg Beirne and his replacement Ryan Baird both went off for head injury assessments in the space of five minutes, the Irish coaches must have felt a sense of nightmarish deja vu.
As it turned out, it was Scotland who were forced into a frantic reshuffle after losing co-captain Finn Russell and wing Darcy Graham to head injuries when they collided with each other in the 21st minute.
Scotland also lost Duhan van der Merwe to a yellow card, and while the winger returned to score a spectacular try and give Scotland renewed hope just before half-time, his diving finish in the corner was a footnote in a tale of Irish dominance.
Much of Ireland's superiority stemmed from their dominant pack, which included returning flanker Peter O'Mahony.
Having been left out of the matchday squad against England, O'Mahony's recall raised a few eyebrows, but the 35-year-old justified his inclusion in a typically pugnacious display highlighted by a superb turnover on Zander Fagerson that allowed Sam Prendergast to smash the ball downfield.
O'Mahony set the tone for a cohesive team display. In his first Test away from Ireland's Aviva Stadium fortress, fly-half Prendergast sparkled and left Murrayfield with the player-of-the-match trophy and Ronan O'Gara's resounding endorsement ringing in his ears.
Andrew Porter, Ireland's chest-beating scrummaging warrior, was immense, underlining his status as a leading contender for the British and Irish Lions loose-head jersey, while Josh van der Flier topped the tackle count with 19.
Again, the bench made an impact, with Sheehan, Jack Conan and Cian Healy adding fresh power in the second half. Jack Crowley, Prendergast's rival for the 10 jersey, even made a cameo at full-back.
'Backing what we do'
Perhaps the most impressive aspect of Ireland's performance was how they shut down Scotland's resurgence and denied the Murrayfield faithful a rousing finale.
After cruising into a 17-0 lead, Van der Merwe's try and a couple of Blair Kinghorn penalties brought the home side back to within six points. But instead of wilting, Ireland cantered into the distance with tries from James Lowe and Conan.
In the end, as it did against England, Ireland's experience in managing the ebbs and flows of the Test arena shone through.
"Backing what we do," captain Doris said when asked what Ireland did to keep Scotland at arm's length.
"The game over here two years ago epitomised the calm and chaos, the trusting in our ability to figure things out as we go on the pitch.
"I think it was the most experienced Irish team ever in terms of caps today and that showed with the calmness, coming in together, taking a breath, acknowledging where we're at and getting back to the plan pretty quickly.
"We saw that today. We saw that two years ago and it's been a strength of ours for the past couple of years."
Ireland will be overwhelming favourites to beat Wales in Cardiff on 22 February. And if they can overcome France in Dublin, they will have a shot at another Slam in Rome on 15 March.
"We talked about England and the spine of the team not quite being ready but Ireland's spine, the leaders they have, the bench that they bring on...they're just a real complete team," ex-England winger Chris Ashton said on Six Nations Rugby Special.
"There aren't a lot of areas where you can look at them and go 'we're going to go after this'. It's hard to find that.
Having referenced England's strong first half against Ireland last week, he added: "Ireland seemed to go 'we're not having that, we can't start slow, we have to start fast and get into Scotland'.
"The game was pretty much over 22 minutes in."
