Pressure all on Ireland says Scot Horne

PETER Horne has warned Ireland that Scotland will be out to end their Guinness Six Nations “title dreams” when they meet at Murrayfield on Saturday.

Joe Schmidt’s holders entered the championship as favourites to retain their crown but after suffering an opening weekend defeat to England, they now travel to Edinburgh with those aspirations hanging by a thread.

Scotland, on the other hand, kicked off their tournament with an at-times impressive five-try bonus-point win over Italy.

Horne knows that with away trips to Paris and Twickenham – two venues where the Scots have never triumphed in the Six Nations era – still to come, Gregor Townsend’s Dark Blues cannot afford a slip up at home if they are to make a bid for the title.

However, the Glasgow centre reckons it will be the visitors who will be under the most strain at Murrayfield and says Scotland are determined to exploit the wounds left by their first Dublin defeat since November 2016.

“Ireland will be feeling a bit of the pressure,” said Horne.

“We put ourselves under pressure, too, but I guess it will be in the back of their minds that if we beat them their title dreams are gone.

“At the same time, we will feel pretty similar, so we’ll look to fly into them and have a good game.

“They will be looking for a massive reaction, which makes them dangerous.”