O'Toole: Irish watching Scots as exciting Six Nation run-in looms

While the manner of Ireland's victory over Italy might help to dampen Grand Slam expectations, Tom O'Toole admits that the final two rounds are "incredibly exciting" for the squad.

Andy Farrell's side were pushed all the way by the Azzurri, who threatened, for a long spell in the second half, to pull off an incredible upset against the number one team in the world.

A late Mack Hansen try, his second, in addition to five-pointers from James Ryan, Hugo Keenan and Bundee Aki saw Ireland to a 34-20 win that keeps their Guinness Six Nations title hopes on track.

"It's going to be getting tight in the last couple of weeks," said O'Toole, who won his seventh cap yesterday.

"[Scotland] have a big game against France (3pm, live on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player) so we'll watch that knowing that we've got the five points which is huge for us.

"We'll have a training week next week and we'll be building towards it but we know going away to Murrayfield is a different challenge.

"They've been playing really, really well the last couple of weeks and I'm sure they'll put in a good performance against France.

"We'll build as a team, recover, and then drive that focus onto Murrayfield, which we know is going to be a big challenge. It's incredibly exciting for us."

O'Toole replaced Finlay Bealham late in the first half after the starting tighthead suffered a knee injury.

His introduction turned the tide in the scrum battle and the Ulster prop took particular pleasure from that victory.

"First off, I'm pretty gutted for Finlay," said the 24-year-old.

"He's been playing exceptionally well the last few weeks. When I saw him take a nasty knock to the knee, I really felt for him.

"For me, it meant I was on early and it was a proper Test match, it was a physical game.