It is exactly 90 years to the day since Scotland took to the Murrayfield pitch for the very first time, celebrating its opening with the 14-11 victory over England that brought them their first-ever Grand Slam.

That achievement was honoured when the 1925 Suites - individually named after the players who took part in that triumph - were created as part of the Murrayfield rebuilding programme in the early 1990s. However, when Scotland assistant coach Duncan Hodge sat down to speak to the media in that part of the stadium yesterday, it was understandable that a more recent win against England should have become the subject of conversation.

Hodge will forever be remembered for his match-winning performance against England in 2000. In a downpour of biblical proportions, his try, conversion and four penalties brought all the Scots' points in their 19-13 victory, an achievement made all the sweeter for most in the ground by the fact it brought England's Grand Slam effort to a juddering halt.

But it is too often - and too easily - forgotten what had happened in the weeks preceding that Calcutta Cup win 15 years ago. Starting with a disastrous defeat in Rome, the Scots had lost four championship games in the trot, so needed the win to salvage their season. It has become a familiar scenario in the seasons since.

And now we're back in that last chance saloon once more. Scotland have played some splendid rugby over the past seven weeks, have scored some fine tries and have defended brilliantly at times, but yet again they have failed to finish in front. It has been a cruel, cruel Six Nations for Vern Cotter and his developing side, but this is an unforgiving championship where tiny margins matter.

Famously, Ian McGeechan, the coach at the time of the 2000 game, pulled together a compilation tape of all the good things Scotland had done in the build-up. Hodge could easily have done the same with this year's footage ahead of today's clash with Ireland, but he and his fellow coaches have taken a more balanced approach.

"There are similarities," he smiled when the matter of his finest hour was brought up. "We are playing at home against a good team and that's a good starting place. But we have to perform at our best to win the game. Ireland are a very good side.

"In our reviews and analysis we are showing positives and negatives. There are things to learn from. It has not all been doom and gloom.

"There has been plenty to keep hold of and we are trying to work on the other stuff. The players are confident in some f the things we have been doing. It is about upskilling the other bits now."

Like generals preparing to fight the last war, there is always a danger in modern rugby that coaches will put too much effort into preparing for their last game. The fourth round of championship matches revealed weakness in Scotland's frontline defence and Ireland's lineout, but neither can be assumed to be areas open for exploitation today.

Of course, from their time together at Clermont Auvergne, Cotter knows how Ireland coach Joe Schmidt thinks and operates and Schmidt knows Cotter just as well. Cotter played down the importance of the second-guessing game earlier this week, but there is little doubt that both men will have been playing it over the past few days.

As Hodge admitted, though, Scotland have more to do in many areas, so worrying too much about the opposition is likely to be counter-productive.

"Going on what we have seen so far, Ireland's kicking game has been good, they are strong around the breakdown, very combative and their defence has been good," said the former fly-half. "They are a very good all-round side and they don't make many mistakes.

"We need to perform for 80 minutes. That's the biggest thing. It's all very well playing well in patches, but winning Test matches is about playing for 80 minutes.

"There have been some skill errors and execution errors, but also mental errors as well. You will never get the perfect performance, but it is about getting a sustained performance for a longer part of the game."

There is an undoubted wariness about Ireland as they prepare to face the Scots. Schmidt's side were rattled by Wales last weekend and the failure of their composure was probably more surprising than the fact of their 26-13 loss in the Millennium Stadium. In their dominant era, there has generally been an admirable level-headedness about how Ireland have gone about their business, but there was a feeling at times in Cardiff that they had blown a few fuses.

Can Scotland exploit that? Certainly, they will want to plant a few seeds of doubt in Irish minds. They will also want to make a mess of things on the touchline, where they have the arch mess-maker in the shape of Jim Hamilton. And while Ireland will unquestionably have addressed some of the issues that revealed themselves against Wales, Scotland will also take heart from the fact that Ireland's finishing this season has been so poor.

They will also want to finish on a note that will sustain them over the months ahead. The Scots will not play together again until their World Cup warm-up series gets underway in August, and captain Greig Laidlaw has said that he does not want to spend the intervening time reflecting on a whitewash.