SUNDAY MORNING STARTED with Dan Tuohy expecting to win his eighth cap for Ireland, matching up his four starts in New Zealand and north America with a fourth appearance as a replacement.

Instead, an untimely chest infection for Paul O’Connell allowed the Ulster lock tip the scales a little further towards full caps.

8:30 am: Tuohy is awake and ready to get some carbohydrates in his system when the forwards coach calls him aside. No, it’s not more homework:

“I had my porridge in my hand and John Plumtree asked me to have a quick chat. I thought he was just going to go over my role for the bench and make sure I was clued up on everything. Then he said I’m in.”

The head coach would later slap him on the back with the words ‘I hope you’re ready.’

He was, but hope had little to do with it.

“These things happen,” Tuohy says of O’Connell’s ill fortune, “I was prepared all week for coming on early if I had to. I felt I did that all week and that gave me confidence starting today.

“I got a lot of reps during training this week, played last week for the Wolfhounds, so I was very comfortable with Joe’s system.

“Although it seems quite tough to think somebody finds out [they're playing] just a couple of hours before kick-off, I was confident in the amount of time I spent on the pitch and the amount of time I spent in front of a laptop cluing up on my role.”

Facing Scotland always ensures a tough task for a second row, and the visiting pack in Dublin yesterday duly dished up a muscular first half to frustrate Ireland. Tuohy cites lower, more accurate tackles and a higher intensity as the factors which gave them the upper hand in the second half.

Despite the early frustration, Ireland still managed to carve out an 11 – 3 lead at the break thanks in large part to the solidity of the set-piece. Without O’Connell, the responsibility of calling the line-out switched to Devin Toner and Tuohy was notable by his absence in the air while Toner and O’Mahony carried out the plays which didn’t need tweaking.

When Tuohy did rise, he managed to crucially steal the line-out which followed Jamie Heaslip’s close call with the TMO in the first half and that led to the Andrew Trimble try. The Ulster lock was put up on Ireland’s own throw in the second half and came down to set up a maul that skated over the try-line for number two.

It was Ireland’s commitment to running the ball and building phases which sucked the life out of Scotland, and there was Tuphy in the thick of try number three as well.

“He was just saying, lads keep hold of the ball,” Tuohy says of Schmidt’s half time message.”Secure the rucks in wide channels, I think that was closely contested by both teams.

“They’re a really good defensive side, they scramble back at the death and deny you that try. It’s just a case of finishing those opportunities and I think we did that in second half.”

Within

Next week will provide a much greater test. Wales, like Ireland, were able to play a little bit within themselves this week and still take a victory into one of the most anticipated games of the championship. Tuohy echoes the mood of many in the camp that this Ireland side badly needs to win back to back in order to be taken seriously.

“There are bigger steps to come. It was always frustrating from a players’ point of view that the provincial sides have done so well, but we struggle to get that consistency into the green jersey.

“That’s something we’re looking to build. You see us on a regular basis togging out for our provinces and playing extremely well. People were wondering, ‘how come they couldn’t do it for Ireland?’

“That’s something we were mindful of – to be a  consistent team is tough, but the more
time you spend together, the more game time you spend with each other…. it bodes well for us.”

Tuohy may well be put back among the replacements for Wales’ visit to Dublin next week, but now we know he’s ready for anything.

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