IN SPORT as in life, having something that is held dear snatched away is a jolt to the senses. There are two ways of responding, bemoaning fate or seeking to respond in a positive vein and working harder.

Peter Stringer chose the latter. Having been a focal point of scores of Ireland teams he’d nothing to prove in the Test arena only to himself.

He wasn’t prepared to let his career taper off, not content to languish on the outside looking in. Restored to first the squad and then the team for Saturday’s game he responded with a performance that was adjudged to be of man-of-the-match calibre. He took his chance. It wasn’t an 80-minute fanfare but when his pack afforded him a little protection and front-foot ball, primarily in the second half, he invited halfback partner Ronan O’Gara out of the pocket and into the front line.

Suddenly the Ireland backline was taking the ball to the right side of the gain line, putting pace and width on the game. There was also the small matter of the break for the only try of the match. Stringer downplayed his role.

“Paulie (O’Connell) went up for a ball and their pod matched him (actually Jamie Heaslip won the lineout at the tail). They (Scots) just had one tail-gunner and I was keeping an eye on that as the ball was throw in. Thankfully he shot off and there was a bit of a gap.

“Jamie (Heaslip) was roaring at me from about 15 yards away and thankfully he was there on my inside to finish it off. You know the support is going to get to you. You try and buy as bit of time and keep the defenders guessing.

“I heard him (Heaslip) from a good bit away and I just tried to buy a bit of time and draw the defence. The line I took was close to the forwards; I knew if he (Heaslip) wasn’t involved in (winning) the lineout he’d be running a support line.”

Heaslip managed to achieve both remits.

There was an earthy pragmatism to Stringer’s post-match comments, a measured delivery that acknowledged the flaws of a patchy collective performance. “We were delighted with the victory but our initial reaction was that we didn’t play as well as we had hoped. You have to give Scotland credit for coming out of the blocks in those first 20 minutes; they had a lot of the ball and we were struggling to get hold of it.

“Once we reflected on that and got our scores, it is a bit more satisfying but there are areas to work on for next week. We will go through the analysis a lot more because it can be difficult to take it in immediately after a game.

“We started quickly in the campaign and wanted to build on that but as the competition goes on teams analyse you a lot more. Scotland did their homework and we found it difficult to break them down. That’s part of the Six Nations, the high intensity games and the analysis that goes into it; when it comes to the end of the championship you are looking for other options and alternatives.”

Inevitably Stringer is invited to look forward rather than back and offer his thoughts on a potential “Grand” occasion in Cardiff on Saturday. “It is a massive occasion playing the Grand Slam champions in their own backyard. We set our goals at the start of each campaign. A Grand Slam or a championship is something we want to win. We have been fortunate enough to come away with a couple of Triple Crowns and that’s a good stepping stone for this even though this (Wales game) is another step up.

“The last couple of weeks we have put in some good performances and some not so good but it is about grinding out victories at times. There is good professionalism in this team, guys are willing to work hard for each other and I’m sure that will be no different at the weekend.

“Our main focus (as players) will be to concentrate on the job in hand, on our patterns and gameplans and implement them in an arena that’s going to be fairly noisy. You have to remain cool headed to bring the best out and that’s our challenge both on the day and in the build-up.”

Singled out as an individual for his performance, Stringer takes time to highlight the input of the backroom team, name-checking the contributions of coach Declan Kidney and his assistants, Gert Smal, Alan Gaffney and Les Kiss. There is an especially warm mention for the work of analyst Mervyn Murphy.

Ireland have reached this stage of the season as a group and now is not the time to break ranks with the ultimate prize tantalisingly close.