Hickie crosses for the opening try.

By Duncan Bech, PA Sport

Ireland broke their Murrayfield jinx in record-breaking fashion to send a clear message to RBS 6 Nations Championship favourites England.

The Irish made up for 18 years of hurt in Edinburgh with an emphatic triumph that underlined their claim to pose the biggest threat to Clive Woodward's men, who will not relish their trip to Lansdowne Road on March 30.

Ireland went into Sunday's game on the back of nine successive defeats at Murrayfield but exorcised their ghost in glorious style with their biggest-ever win over the Scots.

They encountered a few gremlins on the way but, with skipper Brian O'Driscoll in sparkling form, they ran away with the game in the end, leaving Ian McGeechan's men in total disarray.

Their three-try victory, in which second-choice fly-half David Humphreys contributed 26 points, topped their previous best, a 26-8 win in 1953.

Humphreys, stepping into the breach caused by injury to Ronan O'Gara, called on his vast experience to run the Irish show while O'Driscoll ripped the Scottish defence to shreds with his incisive bursts.

But it was a cast-iron defence that kept their try-line intact which will have most pleased coach Eddie O'Sullivan, even though the Scots missed glorious try-scoring opportunities at the start and finish to a non-stop first half.

The drama began in the first minute when video referee Nigel Whitehouse was called on to rule on a touchdown by Scotland lock Stuart Grimes.

The Scots charged down Denis Hickie's attempted clearance from his own 22 and Grimes was on hand to collect the ball from a ricochet off the crossbar.

Unfortunately for McGeechan's men, the ball slipped agonisingly from his grasp and the chance was missed.

If Scotland were unlucky on that occasion, they were simply careless just before the interval when failing to make use of a three-man overlap, Brendan Laney's final pass going behind Chris Paterson who was waiting expectantly on the wing.

Throw in an ankle tap by Peter Stringer on a charging Glenn Metcalfe and the Scots could feel a little unfortunate to be 13-0 down at the break but there was no doubting Ireland's overall superiority.

In O'Driscoll, they had a strike weapon of genuine world class and he caused panic in the Scotland ranks with every touch of the ball.

It was from one of his sidestepping forays that Hickie pounced for the only try of the first half on 28 minutes.

Humphreys supplemented the Irish first-half total with a couple of well-struck penalty goals and a third six minutes into the second half extended their lead to 16-0.

But that was the signal for the Scottish forwards, magnificently led by Simon Taylor and Tom Smith, to up the tempo and they put the Ireland defence under intense pressure, laying siege to the visitors' try-line.

But the Irish were up to the task, keeping their line intact with some feverish tackling, and the Scots had to be satisfied with a couple of Ross penalties which briefly gave them renewed hope.

Humphreys, who came up with a timely interception to relieve the pressure, added another penalty to make it 19-6 and the game was put beyond the home side when winger Geordan Murphy produced a brilliant solo effort.

Murphy, a first-half replacement for the injured Shane Horgan, defused another strong Scottish raid by pouncing on a loose ball from the base of a ruck and twice hacked the ball forward on a 60-metre sprint to the line.

Humphreys then supported a break by Hickie to grab a third try - only his third in 48 appearances - and kicked his third conversion before wrapping up the scoring with fifth penalty, his eighth success from nine kicks at goal.

Teams:

Scotland: G. Metcalfe, Logan, Craig, Laney, Paterson, G. Ross, Redpath, T. Smith, Bulloch, Douglas, Murray, Grimes, Leslie, Mower, Taylor.

Not Used: Scott, G. Kerr, Hines, Beattie, Blair, Townsend, Utterson.

Pens: G. Ross 2.

Ireland: Dempsey, S. Horgan, O'Driscoll, Maggs, Hickie, Humphreys, Stringer, Corrigan, S. Byrne, Hayes, Longwell, O'Kelly, Costello, Gleeson, Foley.

Not Used: Sheahan, Horan, Cullen, A. Quinlan, G. Easterby, Burke, Murphy.

Tries: Hickie, Murphy, Humphreys.

Cons: Humphreys 3.

Pens: Humphreys 5.

Att: 67,000

Ref: Andrew Cole (Australia).