INSIDE VIEW/Brian O'Driscoll: It's amazing how the little things can change the atmosphere. We went go-karting in Santry when we reconvened last Wednesday week - having watched the video nasty that was the England game - and it was great craic.

There were several heats, but myself, Claw (Peter Clohessy) and Shaggy (Shane Horgan) got banned for dangerous driving before the final.

The two boys were fighting it out in the home straight and I saw my opportunity and sneaked up on the inside. Shane spotted me and forced me into the gravel, so we were now three abreast and I just managed to pip them. I celebrated a bit and when we stopped we were called over by the boys, us thinking that we must be through to the final.

Instead we got the black flag and got turfed out for dangerous driving. It lightened the mood and was just a good way to unwind after England and consign the past to the history books.

We trained well when we came together for the Scotland game, but there was an element of nervousness. We wanted to put things right. There was that pressure, because we knew that we were on a last chance and we really wanted to take it. People stood up and were counted and that was important.

I felt very relaxed waiting for the match to start, just felt very comfortable and really looking forward to the game. I put a bit of thought into the game, everyone felt good.

I didn't dwell on the Murrayfield game because we had played a lot of their big names in European Cup matches. We didn't struggle in those games, so there was no need to reflect on a negative. We played well against these guys before and there was no reason to suggest we couldn't do it again on the day.

This game was about whose pack wins. We backs can usually string a few passes together if you get a platform going forward. It's a hell of a lot easier than going backwards. Our forwards created a great platform and we (the backs) were able to hit the ground running. They were back-pedalling slightly and so everything was in our favour.

The tries. The first one was a training ground move. I got the most satisfaction out of that one because we worked it as a team, as a backline in particular. We banged Maggsy (Kevin Maggs) in there first time to keep them honest. Then, about two minutes later, we were lucky to get a scrum in pretty much the same place and we thought that (James) McLaren would bite down on him (Maggs).

We played it behind Maggsie's back straight to me and the gap opened up and I just had to scoot through unopposed. The only thing that was going through my head was not to drop the ball, and luckily I didn't.

The second one was down to the break of a ball really. I was up flat in defence and I saw Gordon Bulloch, I think, fumble it a bit and I just swooped down on the ball and fortunately the bounce was kind and I was able to pick it up at full tilt.

I was a little worried I was about to hear the referee's whistle go for some infringement or other, but he didn't blow and I thought, okay, we're off. I looked around to see who was chasing me and realised it was Glenn Metcalfe. I thought I'd have the legs on him even if I had to go for the corner flag.

I was pushing further and further away from the posts and remember thinking, 'ah Glen, will you slow down'. He's probably faster than me over a 100 metres straight, and the guy without the ball always goes quicker, but I managed to get there.

My lungs were screaming when I hit the 22: in those circumstances you are always hoping that the chaser slows down so you can ease home in the last 20, but sadly I couldn't. I was absolutely bunched when trotting back.

The third try was another set move and the gap opened up for me and all I had to do was take it to the line. I was just fortunate to be in the position to run it in, and again it was especially pleasing because it was something that we had worked on on the training ground. When you pull off those things in a match it makes all the hard work worthwhile.

I have to give a lot of credit to Kevin (Maggs), not least for his defence; I really enjoyed playing in the centre with him today. Obviously you have set calls, but when he tells you to go, you can safely assume that the inside is locked solid. I thought our backline defence was extremely good.

They ran out of ideas and didn't know what to do against us, and that's a sign that your defence is working when a team has to kick the ball away, hoping to regain possession. Maggsie had a huge game defensively; it doesn't matter who runs at him, he still hits them as hard as he possibly can. There were a couple of big collisions.

That really gives a team a lift if you see someone getting cleaved. It's difficult to find someone better from his tackling technique to organisational skills to his communication.

The defence was obviously a lot better than the England game. Mike Ford has a system and it is a way that the whole team has to buy into when defending.

It starts from the ruck and you work out. We did a great deal of work on that last week and I thought for the most part - it was far from perfect - it was reasonably effective. England have shown how good it can be, but these things take time. We failed miserably against England but against the Scots we applied it a lot better. There were some hiccups but that was only because people wanted to make tackles, and even then our scramble defence was good.

This was a good win for the team. We set about getting back on track and we did. Having said that, we have learnt a great deal about ourselves in getting to this stage of the championship. We still can improve and that's the aim. The only downside to the last fortnight was the fact that Rog (Ronan O'Gara) won at the karting. Mr Goldilocks comes good!

• In an interview with John O'Sullivan