Ireland can still retain their Six Nations title with victory over Scotland at Murrayfield on Saturday, but must rely on bettering the points-difference tally of both England and Wales.

O’Connell accepted frustrations with Ireland’s try-scoring shortcomings, but still defended boss Schmidt’s tactics-based approach.

“We’ve probably been a little bit disappointed with that,” said O’Connell of Ireland’s lack of tries.

“Even the start of the English game, we were held up over the line twice early on. Credit to Wales last week for great defence, but we no doubt created a whole lot of opportunities where we were really close to scoring.

“I think for us there’s big trust in what we’re doing and that’s probably the biggest thing I see from a player point of view that’s different from other teams I’ve been involved in – there’s massive trust in what we’re doing.

“And that trust won’t waver, and we know that at times when we’ve beaten France this year and beaten England this year, we’ve been delighted with the victories but disappointed that a few small elements of our game that have led us to not scoring tries and taking opportunities like we have in the past.

“And with that trust we’ll keep the faith and hopefully it will come right.”

Ireland’s clash with Scotland is sandwiched between Wales’ trip to Rome to face Italy and England closing the triple-header by hosting France at Twickenham.

Ireland claimed the 2014 title by closing the final day with tense victory over France in Paris, heading into that clash aware that a win would secure the silverware.

This time around O’Connell and company must beat Scotland and watch on in the hope that England do not beat France and tie up a superior points-difference tally.

All that assumes Wales do not trash Italy sufficiently to claim the title advantage, though Warren Gatland’s men already trail Ireland by 21 points so are up against the points-difference tally from the off.

O’Connell expects a spectacle for the armchair viewer, but is determined to ignore the hype himself.

“It will probably be an exciting day for people watching on the TV, but for us we have to prepare in a way that suits us and gives us the best chance of success,” said O’Connell.

“And for me the best way of preparing and to give us the best chance of success is to expect Scotland’s best performance of the championship, and just go out and try to beat that.

“If we can start well, address the things we looked to address from last weekend, we’ll give ourselves a great chance of doing that.”

Ireland defence specialist Les Kiss admitted the Six Nations’ staggered final-day kick-off set-up is something coaches may prefer to see altered in future.

Kiss hinted team bosses would prefer all the final-day matches to kick-off simultaneously, even though the current set-up is in place until 2017.

“Perhaps it’s something that can change on that last day where all the games are played at once,” said Kiss.

“We can’t have a say in the next two years by the looks of it, but perhaps it’s something that can be addressed.

“That’s not the format at this stage though, so we just have to deal with what it is. We’re usually just given the fixture list and that’s it.

“We are in no doubt at the end of this tournament: the fixtures are already confirmed for two more seasons, so we don’t really have much say in that.

“The bottom line is that at the beginning of every championship we actually know what’s going to be happening and when it happens, so it’s all designed and our mindset is set around what we do and the moments we have to deliver.”