Not the “Hoggy flick”, not the Duncan Taylor gallop, not even the scrum dominance he played a huge part in was the most significant moment of Scotland’s Sunday victory over France for Alasdair Dickinson.
The former Dundee HSFP prop had another outstanding performance – all 80 minutes of it for the second game in succession as France were beaten for the first time in 10 years.
But despite he and front row partners Ross Ford and WP Nel having the mob hand in the scrums and giving Scotland a platform, he identified another setpiece that has proved a problem for Scotland in recent times as the key.
The Scots have had trouble coping with the attacking maul in recent years, notably against this same French pack a year ago in the second half in Paris, when the French turned to that weapon and came back to win the game.
But at one key moment on Sunday, midway through the second half when the French declined an easy three points and looked to kick to the corner, showed how much Scotland have advanced.
“That was huge,” said Dickinson. “Games are always tough and there are ebbs and flows, and we were under the cosh at that point.
“We thought if we could get out of there we would take a lot of the pressure off. We know France are really good at driving the maul so we had to stem them straightaway or they would make big gains there.
“Jonny and Richie Gray are really just nerds when it comes to reading lineouts and there was a lot of emphasis on everyone stemming the maul and not letting them get a foothold in the game.
“I’m glad it paid off. It was tough at times but the practice we did during the week really paid dividends.”
For Dickinson, seeing huge 20 stone replacement props coming off the bench for France was a little daunting, but he stuck to his guns.
“It’s a team thing,” he said. “We got a bit of mileage from the Italy game in the scrums but we knew we’d have to step up this week.
“We’ve worked hard over the last 18 months to make it a real weapon for us. It doesn’t get easier when they bring guys who are barely human off the bench but we kept grinding it out.”
Beating France only Sean Lamont, an unused sub, had experienced it before in the Scotland squad should just be a start, continued Dickinson.
“It is massive for us to get this win, to backup the last performance. We were tested quite hard at times but we managed to pull through.
“We came through things that didn’t go our way. The way Finn went off early, but Horney came on and was excellent.
“We’ve got a six day turnaround now for Ireland, but it’s amazing how quickly you recover after a win. I’ll just get some rest for the next couple of days, do what I’m told by the physios and by the strength and conditioning team.
“Ireland will be tough. They maybe misfired the first couple of games, but they were under pressure to perform against Italy and blew them away.
“I think it’s a great way to end the tournament for us and for them.”
Scotland will probably only have one training session before heading to Dublin as they recover from the French match, with the main injury doubt being Russell, who went off with concussion after being caught by team-mate John Barclay’s trailing boot after just five minutes.
Russell is now going through return-to-play protocols which means he may not see any contact this week ahead of the Dublin clash, but head coach Vern Cotter indicated that he would be considered for selection if he passed concussion tests.
Scotland’s options if Russell doesn’t make it would be to continue with Peter Horne, who had a bright game at 10 as his Glasgow team-mate’s replacement, or to recall Duncan Weir, who has had two strong games for the Warriors since stepping down from the national squad.