The Irish preserved their 100% record in the RBS 6 Nations after three rounds, cementing their place at the summit of the table following Wales’ defeat in Paris last night.

Victory over Scotland in a fortnight would sweep them within one match of a first Grand Slam for 61 years, yet man of the match O’Driscoll will look no further than Murrayfield.

“Nothing has changed for us. We’ll give Scotland exactly the same respect we gave France, Italy and England,” he said.

“We’re talking about Scotland and them alone. Murrayfield is a tough place to go - I know that from experience.

“Any side cam beat any other in this tournament. That’s what makes it so hard to win.

“We’ll enjoy this victory tonight and then start focusing all of our attention on Murrayfield.”

It was the least convincing win of Ireland’s tournament so far as they struggled to finish a muscular England side that had little brain to match their brawn.

O’Driscoll bagged a try and drop-goal to complement Ronan O’Gara’s two penalties but a late converted touchdown from Delon Armitage caused a few nervous glances from the dugout.

“The ending was a little nerve-wracking. We made it harder for ourselves than we needed to conceding when we did near the end,” he said.

“But we played it out and won. We didn’t stress ourselves, just did what we needed to.

“There were a few opportunities out there. That was one of the more physical matches played in a long, long time.

“England have been in three World Cup finals and are a huge team to beat.

“We enjoy winning against them because we know how hard it is.

“It wasn’t the perfect performance but we’re happy to have beaten England, albeit by one point.”

O’Driscoll was the victim of two borderline challenges from Riki Flutey and Armitage - only the latter was awarded as a penalty - yet the Lions skipper had no complaints.

“I’m sore now and will know in the morning that I’ve been in a hard Test match,” he said.

“You expect that against the better teams in the world. The challenges hurt.

“I’m not here to be judging what sort of tackles they were. I won’t hold grudges against the players.”