Dublin (AFP) - Ireland captain Caelan Doris said the senior players had “stood up” when it mattered after the Irish ended their Six Nations campaign with an impressive 43-21 win over Scotland and won the Triple Crown.

The Irish were always ahead but the Scots kept getting back within striking distance for most of the match. Sterling defence, especially in the final 10 minutes, helped the Irish to a memorable win.

Doris and his team had started the tournament with a 36-14 hammering by France with many saying they were a side in decline.

They were to be denied the title by the French with the last kick of the tournament, as Thomas Ramos landed a penalty to beat England.

However, Doris ended the Six Nations with a man-of-the-match performance in the victory over a Scotland team that had arrived in Dublin on the back of a 50-40 victory over France.

“We asked for a big performance from some of our senior players and big match players and they stood up,” said Doris.

“The likes of Tadhg Beirne, some of the turnovers he got were crucial.

“We saw what their attack was capable of last week and again today it came in waves but our defence stood up.”

Ireland coach Andy Farrell, who has used more than 30 players in the five matches, said he was “proud as punch” of his side which had held off a Scotland team that “kept banging at the door”.

“What’s happened over that eight weeks matters more to us in a sense that there’s a lot of firsts with the first caps, first Six Nations.

“How the group have come together and navigated their way through that has been pretty special, so therefore we grow massively because of it and become more resilient because of that.”

- ‘I’m a bit old’ -

An inordinate amount of pressure had been placed on fly-half Jack Crowley’s shoulders, especially after being heavily criticised earlier in the week by Irish great Ronan O’Gara.

It had been O’Gara who once had declared his fellow Munster man capable of assuming the mantle of legendary fly-half Johnny Sexton.

“I thought he was outstanding today,” Farrell said of Crowley.

“I mean, the obvious word is he committed to his performance in every aspect.

“It wasn’t just the goal-kicking or the ball in the air, but you can see that he committed to every aspect of his game and led the team really well.”

Doris said that even without the title it had been a successful campaign.

“It’s still pleasing,” said the 27-year-old No 8.

“Like I mentioned there, it’s not a commonly done thing (winning the Triple Crown).

“The growth throughout that we’ve seen, it’s a pretty satisfying way to finish up.

“Versus if you look at last year, we obviously won four out of five as well, but I think our performance probably dipped towards the end.

“So to finish with that performance is definitely pleasing.”

Scotland coach Gregor Townsend, even in the aftermath of a disappointing result, remained upbeat over the state of play for the Scots.

“Yes, absolutely I feel positive,” he said.

“Those three victories, are some of the best rugby we’ve ever seen this team play.

“Today, it’s a reminder and a lesson. The reminder is this is what we need to do to play our best.”

Townsend, whose future had been questioned especially after losing to Italy in the opening game, said the lesson the Scots needed to learn was being more clinical.

“The lesson is, there has to be a longer period of remaining competitive with those sides,” he said.

“We’ve got to be better when we do have those opportunities.”

One of the Irish players who Farrell waxed lyrical about was Robert Baloucoune, the Ulster wing scoring another superb try against Scotland.

Baloucoune was bashful, though, when he was named rising star of the Six Nations.

“It’s probably something I didn’t think would happen,” he said.

“At 28 I think I’m a bit old to be getting named a rising star.”