There was the obvious disappointment at a Six Nations campaign that saw Scotland winless and firmly grasping the wooden spoon, but there was also a feeling that in the Ireland match we at last began to like a rugby team that knew what it wanted to do.
Glasgow's Dan Parks managed to bring pace and width to the Scottish backline with his accurate and crisp passing while also scoring a sweetly taken drop goal. Dan's strength and defence still needs to be worked on but he showed enough on Saturday to merit his inclusion in the Scotland XV, silence some of his critics, and show he's worthy of a run in the team.
Gordon Bulloch looked more like the dynamic player he was a couple of seasons ago while Jon Petrie impressed as a second half replacement.
Matt Williams has had to experiment in the most competitive international rugby tournament in the world. He's had no friendlies or autumn internationals to try out players and gameplans. The Australian tour looks ominous but there isn't a Scottish player who doesn't want to be on the plane.
Scotland's struggles this season have made any bright side difficult to locate but on Saturday they at least began to look like a rugby team. There's still a long way to go, and there will be setbacks on the road, but the worst may be over.
You can read Cammy Mather's Sunday Herald article here
You can read John Jeffrey's Sunday Times article here
You can read Finlay Calder's Scotland on Sunday article here
You can read Gordon Bulloch's Scotland on Sunday article here
You can read Jeff Connor's Scotland on Sunday article here