SIX NATIONS RUGBY: AS most of the Scottish crowd had trundled away with scarcely a murmur, Brian O'Driscoll went up to collect the Century Quaich trophy, which is presented for this fixture. The p.a. announcer saluted "the Irish captain - Denis Hickie."
You'd think, after his hat-trick heroics last season and yet another man-of-the-match performance here, they'd have identified him by now.
Once again the wonderkid captain of Irish rugby had led the tartan midfield a merry dance, ducking and scything through gaps that scarcely seemed to exist, and giving poor Brendan Laney and Andrew Craig a torrid time. New Scottish midfield, same old story.
O'Driscoll's brilliance epitomised the difference between the sides. Scotland had plenty of ball and plenty of huff and puff; Ireland had patience, mental strength to hang tough when they had to, and the cutting edge of O'Driscoll and his fellow musketeers, Denis Hickie, Geordan Murphy and David Humphreys.
Thus a scoreline, which Eddie O'Sullivan generously described as misleading, of 36-6 that also served to put Ireland top of an embryonic table.
Be that as it may, it did reflect both Ireland's massive defensive effort and the class divide, and in the process records tumbled like autumn leaves.
This was Ireland's biggest winning margin in the 115 runnings of the fixture, not only eclipsing the 44-22 win at Lansdowne Road but the previous record win in Murrayfield of 26-8 in 1953.
Ironically, O'Driscoll will have to wait until another day to better the record 17 Irish tries he shares with Brendan Mullin, and in truth, the man-of-the-match award could just as easily have gone to the man who did set a notable landmark, Humphreys.
The little Ulster maestro, recalled only because Ronan O'Gara was injured, was simply in one of those buoyant, majestic moods which make him a joy to watch when he has them.
Striking the ball beautifully from first to last, Humphreys augmented seven out of eight kicks with a try for a personal haul of 26 points - his highest in an Irish shirt - and so overtook Michael Kiernan's overall Irish championship record of 207 points. Humphreys now has 216.
Oh yeah, another record: Ireland's seventh successive win overtook the six-in-a-row of the late 1960s. It's about time some of these records were broken, isn't it?
Anyway, it forced a sheepish if proud little smile from Eddie O'Sullivan when reminded of it.
"I suppose, with records and stuff, it's very nice now that it's happened but I gave it no thought before the game, because if you're thinking about records you're thinking of the outcome and I was just totally focused on the game. But it's very nice to have done that.
"Some of the wins were against Romania and Georgia and you mightn't get a lot of credit for that, but I suppose wins against Australia, Argentina and now Scotland away from home gives the record a certain amount of strength.
"It's a very nice thought to think about, but we have to put that away and get on with the next job in Rome in six days' time.
"A lot of travel, a lot of sore bodies after that game - it was quite physical - and if we don't front up next week it will take away from what we did this week. And the lads are very conscious of that," added O'Sullivan.
The Italians have seemingly been released from the shackles imposed on them by the structured Brad Johnstone under John Kirwan, judging by their deserved and historic 30-22 breakthrough win over Wales in the Stadio Flaminio on Saturday. Given a head of steam they can play some football, and the attractive little ground will be brimming with Latin confidence now.
"A very different type of game," agreed the Irish coach. "I'd say the Italians would be quite ebullient after winning yesterday, this is their second game in a row at home, they'll have a big crowd there and they'll be very fired up for it.
"They're as physical as any team in the Six Nations. They've two very good at half-backs and they can cause problems for anybody.
"I think we'll be a bit tired after today. We had to work for long periods without the ball, which is more draining than working with the ball, and I think the key for us is to keep our focus and get our recovery right.
"If we do that I think we'll have a good shot at getting another win on Saturday."
Given the limited recovery time, a significant doubt for that game is Shane Horgan, who strained his quadricep yesterday. Then again, Ireland do have the sorcery of Geordan Murphy "in reserve".
The squad will travel home today, the team will be announced on Wednesday and they'll move on to Rome on Thursday.
