IT was a game Ireland almost contrived to lose. Quite how, it's difficult to work out given the amount of possession and try-scoring opportunities they had over the 80-odd minutes of this strange encounter at Murrayfield. But for a brief period around the hour mark, just after Scotland had opened up a five-point lead courtesy of the boot of Chris Paterson, it did appear that the home side were actually going to defy all logic and win the game. That they didn't, and that Ireland came back strong in the final 20 minutes is testament to the mental strength of this particular bunch of players. They kept their cool when the game was in the melting pot, although they were helped by the fact that Scotland proceeded to lose theirs at precisely the same moment.

Ronan O'Gara, who had another superb game at outhalf, scored all Ireland's points, his tally consisting of a try, conversion and four penalties. He exuded confidence in everything he did during the game and it's quite difficult to figure out how he wasn't handed the man-ofthe-match award. Denis Hickie, instead, was the recipient and he too had a fine game on the left wing, the highlight being his last-ditch tackle on Chris Paterson that saved a certain try in the first period.

In highlighting these two, it's difficult to pinpoint any Irish player who didn't at least have a decent game, with Shane Horgan being his usual omnipresent self, and Paul O'Connell putting in another al-action display in the second-row. He's certainly back to his best.

With the team appearing ultra confident from the start, and clearly looking to beat the Scots, not just edge past them, the only mystery early on was that Ireland hadn't a bucket load of points to their name. Try as they might, though, they couldn't quite prise Scotland open.

O'Connell, of all people, had an opportunity to put D'Arcy away down the left hand side after he scythed, rather than bashed, his way through the Scottish midfield but his inside centre just over ran him at the vital moment.

Moments later, a stray kick from the extremely poor Dan Parks was run back with purpose by Girvan Dempsey, with Shane Horgan and Brian O'Driscoll almost combining on the right touchline to put D'Arcy away once more.

Almost.

There were similar margins involved minutes later when O'Gara just failed to float a pass into the arms of Dempsey wide left, who would surely have put Denis Hickie away for a try had he not knocked on. At least in all of this O'Gara landed a penalty on eight minutes to put Ireland on the scoreboard but when Chris Paterson levelled matters on the 16minute mark, Ireland's dominance began to wane.

The Scottish midfield defence began to get to grips with their direct opponents and they also became that bit more effective at slowing down Irish ball on the ground.

They would have scored a try in this period, too, had Hickie not been on hand to superbly drag down Paterson inside the Irish 22. They were blessed.

It was rather odd, then, that with Scotland more of a participant in the game, Ireland scored their opening try.

There was a fair degree of luck involved in O'Gara's block down of Parks' bizarrely-aimed kick, and while they made hard work of what should have been a routine run-in, D'Arcy and Easterby did eventually create the space for O'Gara to touch the ball down under the posts.

The conversion was routine but Scotland didn't appear too disheartened. Straight from the kick-off, a Gavin Kerr catch put the home side deep in Irish territory and when the ball was swung to the right, Hugo Southwell should have put Paterson away in the corner. Chance lost.

Before the break, Paterson kicked two penalties to one from O'Gara - all offences relating to infringements on the deck - to give Ireland a four-point advantage, even if the visitors may have felt somewhat short changed for their efforts. It was a theme that continued early in the second period. With Nathan Hines in the bin for dragging down an Irish maul, O'Driscoll released Hickie down the left-hand touchline.

You'd have backed the winger to make it to the line before the Scottish cover but the Leinster man collided with the corner flag just before he touched the ball down.

Ireland still weren't getting their just deserts and that point was hammered home on 53 minutes when a rare piece of Scottish continuity resulted in O'Connell going in the side of a ruck and Paterson reducing the lead to just a single point.

With Hines now back on the pitch, Ireland looked a little nervy and sure enough, Paterson put Scotland in front for the first time in the game with a 63rd-minute penalty in front of the posts.

It was quite unbelievable given the context of what had gone before, even more so when Paterson kicked his sixth penalty of the game to put five points between the sides. But never fear. Sensing the trouble they were in, Ireland put their game faces back on and kept things simple. They simply refused to panic.

Twice within the space of four minutes Scotland infringed on the floor and on both occasions O'Gara held his nerve impressively to kick Ireland back in front. There was a late scare when Sean Lamont almost worked his way improbably past a couple of Irish defenders on the lefthand touchline but the mess was eventually cleared up.

Ireland held on, as they deserved to, but they'll wonder why it was so close.

SCORING SEQUENCE 7 mins R O'Gara pen, 0-3 15 mins C Paterson pen, 3-3 29 mins R O'Gara try, con, 3-10 34 mins C Paterson pen, 6-10 37 mins R O'Gara pen, 6-13 40 mins C Paterson, pen 9-13 50 mins C Paterson pen, 12-13 60 mins C Paterson pen, 15-13 65 mins C Paterson pen, 18-13 67 mins R O'Gara pen, 18-16 70 mins R O'Gara pen, 18-19