Ireland ‘took a big step forward’ with victory over Scotland, says captain Rory Best

Rory Best insists Ireland took a giant leap ‘mentally and emotionally’ in their patchy 22-13 Guinness Six Nations win in Scotland.

Conor Murray, Jacob Stockdale and Keith Earls all crossed as Ireland returned to winning ways a week on from their physical besting in the 32-20 defeat by England in Dublin.

Johnny Sexton suffered a head injury leaving Joey Carbery to run the game for almost an hour: the Munster star threw an intercept pass for Sam Johnson’s try for Scotland, but conjured the winning score for Earls.

Ireland captain Rory Best lifts the Century Quaich after Saturday’s victory over Scotland

Ireland admitted they were not fully mentally prepared for the physical onslaught against England – but after Saturday’s edgy Edinburgh win, captain Best believes they have restored the right mindset.

‘We’d ideally like to play better and with more fluidity, and probably get on the front foot more,’ said Best.

‘Defensively they came off the line very hard and worked hard at the breakdown. We’ll go back to the pressure we put on and the coaches put on us. We want to be better.

‘Last week was a very strange week. We felt we’d done alright in some areas, and were pretty poor in others with some silly mistakes.

Best (centre) insists Ireland took a giant leap ‘mentally and emotionally’ with the victory

‘But we don’t strive for alright, we want to be the best we can be and last week wasn’t that. Mentally and emotionally we took a big step forward this week.’

Ireland’s defence of their 2018 title got off to the worst possible start with that comprehensive loss to England, but victory in Scotland at least set Joe Schmidt’s men back on track.

Combative hooker Best knows full well Ireland’s title chances will now hinge on others slipping up elsewhere, but the 36-year-old was relieved and delighted to leave Edinburgh with those hopes still alive and kicking.

Conor Murray scores his side’s first try of the game during the Six Nations showdown

‘I think winning this game was very important,’ said Best. If you lose two games you’re dead and buried. We’ll have to rely on other people which isn’t where you want to be. But if we hadn’t won this game, we were definitely out of it.

‘It was important to get the result. Obviously we wanted to improve in certain areas, physically, and we wanted to play a lot more like ourselves.

‘We can be better, we can play more rugby, and I’m sure Joe will touch on that when we meet up again.

‘With 15 minutes to go there was an opportunity to go for four tries but we couldn’t get the sustained pressure.’