Scotland, who trailed 16-9 at half-time, were level eight minutes into the second half with a try from flanker Allister Hogg converted by Chris Paterson.

But the Irish moved up a gear in response and tries from David Wallace, Peter Stringer and RBS man-of-the-match DArcy secured an emphatic victory for Ireland and condemned Scotland to the wooden spoon.

DArcy and Geordan Murphy had claimed the first-half tries which enabled Ireland to build a seven-point half-time lead.

Two Paterson penalties and a Dan Parks drop-goal had kept Scotland in with a chance and Hoggs converted try raised hopes of an upset.

But Ireland were in no mood to let a Triple Crown slip from their grasp and three tries in 20 second-half minutes did the trick.

Skippered by Brian ODriscoll, who was winning his 50th cap, Ireland needed to beat the Scots by at least 50 points to have any chance of winning the championship.

They never looked like doing so as Matt Williams men made them work hard for their win but the Irish were still celebrating at the final whistle with a Triple Crown in their grasp.

Chris Paterson, switched from fly-half to full-back, and Ronan OGara struck early penalties before Ireland took charge with a DArcy try in the 19th minute.

Girvan Dempsey and Shane Horgan combined and when the latter was tackled DArcy was on his shoulder to take the final pass and burst over. OGara failed with the conversion but Ireland led 8-3.

Paterson and OGara exchanged penalties before a Dan Parks drop-goal cut Irelands lead to 11-9.

But Ireland struck back with a minute of the half to go, winning a scrum close to the Scots line and feeding the ball left to ODriscoll whose bullet pass found an unmarked Murphy who claimed his 11th international try to give the Irish a 16-9 lead at the interval.

Scotland fought back at the start of the second half and were level within eight minutes, flanker Hogg diving over for his first international try after great work from the Scottish pack and Paterson converting.

But five minutes later Ireland regained the initiative, David Wallace capping a spell of Irish pressure breaking out of a tackle to force himself over and OGara landing the conversion to establish a 23-16 lead.

And there looked to be no way back for the Scots when scrum-half Stringer darted over for a try after prop John Hayes had sucked in the Scottish defence. OGara made no mistake with the conversion and Ireland were 30-16 ahead.

DArcy underlined Irish superiority with his second try after combining with Murphy to carve open the Scottish defence. OGaras conversion made it 37-16.


Ireland: G Dempsey; A Horgan, G DArcy, B ODriscoll, G Murphy; R OGara, P Stringer; R Corrigan, S Byrne, J Hayes, M OKelly, P OConnell, S Easterby, P Wallace, A Foley.
Replacements: F Sheahan, M Horan, D OCallaghan, V Costello, D Humphreys, G Easterby, K Maggs.
Subs used: D OCallaghan for OKelly (50-56 mins, blood sub)

Scotland: C Paterson (Capt); S Danielli, T Philip, A Henderson, S Webster; D Parks, C Cusiter; A Jacobsen, G Bulloch, B Douglas, S Murray, S Grimes, J White, S Taylor, A Hogg.
Replacements: R Russell, G Kerr, N Hines, J Petrie, M Blair, B Laney, D Lee.
Subs used: G Kerr for Jacobsen (ht), J Petrie for Taylor, inj. (42 mins), N Hines for Grimes (58 mins), M Blair for Cusiter (58 mins), M Horan for Corrigan (61 mins), B Laney for Henderson (66 mins)