Ireland tiptoed their way to successive RBS Six Nations titles for the first time since 1949, sneaking past England on points difference after beating Scotland 40-10, yesterday.

Joe Schmidt’s men ended Wales’s title bid with their four-try triumph at Murrayfield, before biting their fingernails to the quick while cheering on France in their Twickenham clash against England.

Ireland set England the challenge of beating France by a 26-point margin to claim the title – Stuart Lancaster’s men did prevail against Les Bleus, but came up six points short owing to a 55-35 scoreline that sent the title to Dublin.

Captain Paul O’Connell set Ireland on their way with his first Test try in nine years, before Sean O’Brien’s brace and a further score from Jared Payne wrapped up a fourth victory in the campaign.

Wales had kept their title claims alive earlier in the afternoon by thrashing Italy 61-20 in Rome, as the Six Nations went down to a points difference scrap for another year.

Ireland secured victory by greater than 20 points, however, to overshadow Wales’s cushion and set England that 26-point target for glory in the final game of yesterday’s triple-header at Twickenham.

Should two teams share the same points difference, the title would be decided on tries scored – England already led Ireland on that front 11 to eight, so only needed to level the Irish’s points buffer.

Meanwhile, Ireland’s victory condemned Scotland to their 33rd wooden spoon, and their third tournament whitewash in 11 years, despite a first Test try for Finn Russell.

Captain Paul O’Connell hailed Ireland’s history-makers as his side claimed successive Six Nations titles for just the second time in their history, emulating the feat of the great 1949 team led by Jack Kyle.

“To win a championship any year is fantastic,” said O’Connell.

“I’ve spent a lot of years in close calls, and it’s been a great eight weeks. I think we’d be very proud of what we’ve done in the last eight weeks, in terms of how we’ve addressed certain things in our performance, in attack, defence and our resolve to come out and produce a good performance like that after losing last week.

“I’m very proud of this squad over the last eight weeks.”

Final standings