Having gone the entirety of the 1990s without beating Scotland, Ireland have only lost three Six Nations games against them this century.
All three of those had a slightly freakish quality about them.
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In 2001, the nation pulled out all the stops to keep out foot-and-mouth from reaching the eastern seaboard, an effort which involved postponing Six Nations games with the British teams until autumn.
After a raft of personnel changes and half a year without a match, Ireland were soundly dispatched in Murrayfield. To the delight of the rugby romantics, Gregor Townsend orchestrated much of the carnage.
They wouldn't lose again in Murrayfield - in the Six Nations at least - until 2013, when a badly depleted outfit frittered away a truckload of chances and allowed a very limited Scotland team to kick their way to a rare victory.
Incidentally, Ronan O'Gara endured nightmares in both of those defeats, one at the start of this career, the other at the very end.
However, the most bizarre game of the three 21st century championship defeats to Scotland was in the final game in Croke Park in 2010.
Still partially bathing in the glow of the 2009 Grand Slam, Ireland had been spanked in Paris but, after some perversely inspiring words from Kevin Myers, bounced back to end England's (absurd) Grand Slam dreams in Twickenham.
A fortnight later, they easily disposed of a miserable Welsh challenge in Croker. By the time we arrived at the final game, the mood was upbeat. This was an even year after all and the French were just about too good.
There were a few patronising words about the dangers posed by the Scottish back row, but it was still blithely assumed that the Triple Crown would be collected afterwards.
During the noughties, Scotland's spring campaigns alternated between the unsuccessful but with some redeeming features and the glimmer of promise, or, the unsuccessful with no redeeming feature and no glimmer of promise. 2010 was one of the former.
Speaking to Richard Bath in the Telegraph today, Scotland's flanker that John Barclay suggests the Scots were pissed off with the Irish attitude in 2010.
When we got to the final game we felt we’d been written off and really need to do something. Ireland had lost to France and were disappointed they couldn’t win the Grand Slam but kept saying, ‘at least we’re going to win the Triple Crown’. It was also St Patrick’s Day and their last ever game at Croke Park. The guys were a bit annoyed by their attitude; we thought we’d played too well over the place to not win a game.
As in 2013, Ireland created a pile of chances but conspired to blow most of them.
The game represents Johnny Sexton's darkest day in an Ireland jersey. Still in the throes of early international career kicking yips, the Croker game against Scots was their worst manifestation. Had he managed to land even half of his kicks, Ireland would have won well.
The enduring image of the game was the camera zoom on Johnny Sexton's face when his substitution was announced as he was standing over a penalty.
O'Gara was anxious to boot it onto the pitch. Eventually, Sexton was allowed take the kick and he finally scored one.
It was impossible to think then that Sexton would soon emerge as unquestionably the best outhalf in the Northern hemisphere.
https://youtu.be/EgL7FYkc4OU?t=11m1s
