Scotland will have to ‘do something special’ to beat Ireland, says Townsend
Gregor Townsend admits Scotland will have to “do something special” in Dublin as he challenged them to score at least 20 points against Ireland and give themselves a fighting chance of a first triple crown since 1990.
Scotland are heading to the Irish capital looking to save face after a shock defeat in Italy last weekend all but ended their hopes of winning the championship and left them staring at the possibility of finishing fifth if results go against them on Saturday.
Townsend is braced for a formidable test against a side they have lost to in 13 of their last 14 meetings – including nine in a row following a decisive 36-14 pool-stage loss at last year’s Rugby World Cup in France. “We know how tough it’s going to be,” he said. “They’re one of the top two teams in the world and at home they’ve been virtually unbeatable the last few years so it’s going to require something special from our players.
“We’ve got to accept that they’ll score points on Saturday. I think before [losing 23-22 to] England they were averaging 30 points a game, so it will be a test for our defence, and we have to score points. We have to get to 20 or more, which will be tough but we believe we can do that against any team.”
Townsend conceded there is a sense of regret that Scotland – who have two wins out of four so far – are not heading to Ireland with a genuine chance of winning the title. “The frustration is that we’re not going to Dublin on the back of four wins,” he said. “We feel we had a win taken away from us against France, and obviously
Italy deserved their win but we feel we could have been better that day.”
Despite last weekend’s disappointment, Townsend has opted to make just two changes, with Glasgow centre Stafford McDowall replacing Cam Redpath and first-choice scrumhalf Ben White returning at the expense of George Horne.
Ireland, however, have stuck with the starting XV narrowly beaten by England for Saturday’s title decider. Andy Farrell’s men will retain the championship crown by avoiding defeat or securing two losing bonus points at the Aviva Stadium.
Calvin Nash has overcome the head knock which forced him off inside five minutes of the last-gasp 23-22 loss at Twickenham to retain his place on the right wing. Garry Ringrose, who is yet to feature in this year’s championship after a shoulder issue, is named among the replacements Ronan Kelleher, Cian Healy, Finlay Bealham, Ryan Baird, Jack Conan, Conor Murray and Harry Byrne.
Although Ireland’s pursuit of successive grand slams was ruined last weekend, they remain in a strong position at the top of the championship table, having racked up four bonus points and a vastly superior points difference on each of their rivals. A defeat without any bonus points could also be sufficient for the title, but would be dependent on the result of England’s trip to France in the final match of “Super Saturday”.
Gatland relishing pressure with Wales
Warren Gatland says he relishes the high-pressure stakes of international sport as Wales strive to avoid a first Guinness Six Nations wooden spoon for 21 years. But if Wales fail to beat Italy at the Principality Stadium on Saturday, then they will prop up the final table, which has not happened since Gatland’s fellow New Zealander Steve Hansen was in charge for the 2003 campaign.
Asked about the pressure, Gatland said: “I love it. You find out about people in weeks like this when you are under a bit of pressure, how you respond to that pressure, who is going to put their hand up, who is going to accept the responsibility.
“You find out so much more about individuals when you are under pressure. And that is what international sport and professional sport is all about, whether you are playing for grand slams or you are at the other end of the table and fighting for survival and fighting to make sure we get a win on the weekend.”
Gatland’s squad rebuilding process is under way, one that was underlined by Test retirements last year of Dan Biggar and Leigh Halfpenny and their fellow cap centurion George North will follow after the Six Nations. This is alongside Louis Rees-Zammit quitting rugby for a possible American football career, Liam Williams playing in Japan, plus injuries to Jac Morgan, Dewi Lake and Taulupe Faletau.
“You can go back as far as 2003, which probably wasn’t the best year for Welsh rugby, but two years later that team won the grand slam,” Gatland said. “It does take a bit of time. You can’t coach experience. Players learn from being out in the middle. They make mistakes, but it is how you rectify those mistakes for them to be better the next time.”
North will bow out of the international game after a career in which he helped Wales win four Six Nations titles, including two grand slams, and played in four World Cups. The 31-yearold back, who will play for the French club Provence next season, has scored 47 tries for Wales – a figure only bettered by Shane Williams – and he is his country’s third most-capped player behind Alun Wyn Jones and Gethin
Jenkins.
Gatland said: “He was probably thinking to himself when was the right time [to retire] from a physical point of view. The conversation with him was that he didn’t want to continue playing for the next couple of years and then potentially leave us in a bit of a hole 12 months out from a World Cup.
“I completely understood his decision with him going to France and taking the family with him. It is not completely a surprise to me because we had already had a couple of conversations. We would have loved to have had a player of his ability still to be involved but at some stage everyone calls time.”
Italy, meanwhile, have lost full-back Ange Capuozzo for the match in Cardiff after he broke a finger in his left hand. He will be replaced by Lorenzo Pani, while two other changes from the side that defeated Scotland 31-29 last weekend mean starts for the Gloucester scrum-half Stephen Varney and Benetton No 8 Lorenzo Cannone.
Italy will avoid finishing bottom of the Six Nations table for a ninth successive season if they defeat Wales, and they go into the game four points above their hosts.