The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Four new faces as Scots await Irish test
Ireland remain Scotland’s benchmark and better than they’ve shown in the first three games of this Guinness Six Nations, reckons Gregor Townsend as the Scots face their recent nemesis again tomorrow at BT Murrayfield.
Townsend has made four changes to the team that last played almost a month ago against Wales. Three are expected or enforced, as WP Nel comes in for the suspended Zander Fagerson, while Jamie Ritchie and Sam Johnson return. One change is a tactical preference, with Sean Maitland in for Darcy Graham on the wing.
“Given our opponents’ potential strategy we feel Sean’s strengths are better suited to this game,” said Townsend, which clearly refers to Ireland’s aerial game and the high ball.
Ireland have beaten Scotland on their last five meetings, including twice in 2020. Even if results in this championship give Scotland the edge, in headto-heads Ireland are way in front.
“Ireland are the benchmark because they have been one of the best performing sides in the northern hemisphere over the past 10 years,” said Townsend. “They have been a challenge for us over the past five years to win against them. We haven’t done that for two or three years.
“Under Andy Farrell the strength in set-piece has remained and the lineout has been excellent over the last three or four games. They are very good in contact, they’ve always had the best contact efficiency over the last few years.
“They’re also showing a willingness to compete for ball when you’re attacking, shown by picking someone like Tadhg Beirne. They’re certainly looking to play with ambition and bring their back three into play much more.”
Scotland have been competitive at times against the Irish in recent meetings, suggested Townsend.
“What we need is an 80-minute performance and making the most of opportunities. In the last three games we’ve played against them we’ve created opportunities and parts of those games have gone our way.
“In the autumn we were 9-3 up and playing good rugby, but they dominated for periods and put points on the board.
“It’ll be a physical contest and Ireland will have time in our 22. We have to make sure they don’t come away with points on a regular basis.
“We also have to take our chances when we do get them.”
Scotland can’t give up easy opportunities to the Irish, but Townsend argued team discipline was strong.
“Some of the rugby we played in the first half against Wales was the best this squad has produced,” he said.
“But there were lessons in there, too. We need to make sure we are not following up an error or a penalty with another error or penalty. That is what we did just before half-time.
“Our discipline has been really good – we’ve got the lowest penalty count of any team in the championship. But there were a couple of things that cost us, the red card and those penalties that came in succession.
“One pleasing aspect was the players’ mindset, their confidence in training and their togetherness hadn’t changed with the defeat.
“They knew that they’d put a lot into that performance. On another day we could have got that breakaway at the end which could have led to a victory.”
While it’s not quite certain yet – talks between the Six Nations and England’s clubs are still ongoing – it looks like the Scots will play three times in successive weeks to make up the game lost against France two weeks ago.
“We know there’s a date out there (for the French game), the 26th (of March) which should suit everybody,” he said. “There’s a few things to be sorted, notably getting all our players available and released from clubs.
“For a tournament of the standing of the Six Nations you need the best players playing against the best available. We want the game played – so do France – so let’s hope it’s played in the next few weeks.”
Scotland haven’t prepared too differently even knowing they will likely have three games in three weeks.
Townsend hinted that there might be some rotation – possibly in the Italy game – as players could play 80 minutes of Test rugby three times in the space of 19 days.
Ireland scrum-half Jamison Gibson-Park has been preferred to the fitagain Conor Murray.
Murray missed the games with France and Italy due to a hamstring injury and only returns to the bench, with Gibson-Park making his third successive start.
Front-row pair Cian Healy and Rob Herring are recalled in place of Dave Kilcoyne and Ronan Kelleher, while Keith Earls for Jordan Larmour on the right wing is the only other change to the line-up.