On the weekend when Ireland moved within one match of winning the titles that have eluded the greatest generation of Irish players, Brian O'Driscoll offered insight into the pragmatism that now informs his side's every effort.

This is a team that flattered to deceive through seven tantalising years under Eddie O'Sullivan, during which they registered more victories than any of their rivals yet did not win the Six Nations.

Captained for most of that time by O'Driscoll, the most gifted player in the British Isles, they played with more style and flair than any of their opponents but consistently lacked the conviction to win the elusive grand slam.

A haul of three Triple Crowns was a decent return, but they now head for the Millennium Stadium grimly determined to register the victory that can turn a decade of near misses into a glorious one.

Throughout O'Driscoll's time as captain, the national side has mirrored his Leinster provincial team with that capacity to overrun any side, but inability to win the really big matches.

Now, though, Declan Kidney, the coach who has led Munster to two Heineken Cup wins in the past three years, is in charge, and so is the Munster mentality. For all his capacity to slice open opposing defences, O'Driscoll, who was warned for careless use of the boot at a ruck during Saturday's match and whose biggest contributions to Ireland's win were defensive, seems to have embraced that with some enthusiasm.

"Every time you play Test rugby you want to play great rugby, but sometimes you just need to grind out victory. Sometimes you take as much from winning those games as you do from playing fluid, flamboyant rugby," he said after Saturday's win.

For those in Scottish rugby who have been harping on about style rather than substance since the national team last achieved their pre-campaign target by registering a dour win over Italy to qualify for the 2007 World Cup quarter-finals, that comment ought to have been instructive.

A great deal of drivel has been talked and written about the need to provide entertainment for spectators when all that matters in professional sport is winning. England yesterday moved ahead of all the other teams in this championship on try count, but they have lost two matches so cannot lift the title. There is not a single Ireland supporter who would swap their position with England right now, having ground out four wins without playing much in the way of attractive rugby at any stage.

Ireland's way is now the Munster way and as The Herald predicted ahead of Saturday's match, while there is not that much between Scotland and their Celtic cousins in any phase of play, the Irish know how to win and the Scots do not.

If Scotland did, this match might have been over by half-time. Indeed, Frank Hadden, their head coach, was adamant that was the case, saying: "I thought we should have been out of sight at half-time."

Twice Scotland got six points ahead during a half which they were very close to dominating. Twice they committed the cardinal error of allowing their opponents to score almost immediately.

Mike Blair, their captain, made a similar mistake even earlier when, after Chris Paterson had registered the game's first points, the scrum-half kicked the ball dead from inside his own half, giving Ireland the field position from which they earned the penalty that let Ronan O'Gara open his account.

Scotland had set out to better their opponents in the contact areas and largely achieved that during the opening period. However, the last of their points-costing mistakes before the break was to set the tone for the second half when Jason White knocked on as he tried to claim a restart and John Barclay instinctively played the ball to concede the penalty that let O'Gara reduce the leeway to 12-9 at the interval.

While it was by no means as obvious an error as some of those made earlier in the campaign, the management must have pondered the folly of leaving aerial specialist Al Kellock out of their 22 as they fell apart at lineout and restarts in the third quarter.

Meanwhile, while the Evans brothers have brought a new dimension to Scotland's play this season, there was the suspicion that had the Irish created the opportunity that Thom Evans did at the very end of the half, a try would have resulted. Instead, there was a trace of hesitation as the winger checked for support and that was just enough to let Tommy Bowe get to him. While his pass found the supporting Phil Godman, O'Driscoll had the stand-off covered and the chance was lost.

Compare and contrast with how the Irish seized upon their only clear chance when Peter Stringer suddenly broke into the Scottish 22 from a lineout and, as the cover got to him, had replacement Jamie Heaslip on hand to take the scoring pass.

From that point, while they never got more than a score ahead, Ireland never really looked like losing their advantage. Like their leading province they never really do now and it will be a major shock, to this observer at least, if they do not grind their way to that elusive grand slam and championship win at the ground where Munster have twice won Heineken Cup finals.