Ireland may be marginal favourites for their Triple Crown decider against Scotland on Saturday, but they will be under no illusions about the test awaiting them at the Aviva Stadium.
Both sides still harbour hopes of claiming the Six Nations title – Ireland’s more hopeful than the Scots’ – and it’s a mouth-watering way to start ‘Super Saturday.’
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Much has been made of Scotland’s poor record against Ireland in recent years, but the teams feel closer in performance in this Six Nations than in any previous of the Gregor Townsend era since 2017.
Their demolitions of England and France will have struck fear into every team in the Six Nations, not least Ireland, who have blown hot and cold at points during this year’s championship.
It feels like Scotland’s best chance yet to have Ireland’s number (Scottish wing Darcy Graham certainly thinks so), but Wales great Dan Biggar thinks two key traits should see the home side over the line in Dublin.
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Dan Biggar backs Irish experience
Dan Biggar looked ahead to an enticing Six Nations finale on The Rugby Pod this week, with the Wales great predicting a close game in the opener at the Aviva Stadium.
Intriguingly, Biggar thinks Scotland’s seven-try showing against France shows that they will only win this game in one way – by blowing Ireland out of the water.
“I think they’ve got an excellent chance of winning,” Biggar said.
“I would be amazed if Scotland win but without the bonus point. I think if they win, they’re going all out…speaking to Ben White and a few of the players, they’ve just invested. They’re all-in now. They’re like, ‘We can’t be taking 3s.’ Maybe that was the difference against France.
“I do think they’ve got tries in them, Scotland, as we’ve seen throughout the whole tournament barring the washout in Rome. I think they’ve got tries in them, and I think they’ve got a brilliant chance to put pressure on. That was as good a performance as I’ve seen from a team in a long time last weekend.”
Scotland’s wins against England and France both came from firing out of the blocks at Murrayfield, but they have struggled more on the road this Six Nations.
Their lacklustre display in Cardiff nearly allowed Wales to claim a shock win, while they may be left to rue their abysmal showing in Rome on opening weekend.
Despite Scotland’s obvious firepower in attack, Dan Biggar believes Ireland’s experience in these title deciders, coupled with their propensity for big “moments,” could see them just nick a pivotal win.
They’re coming up against an Irish team who’ve also got a chance at the title – an outside chance, albeit.
But they’re used to winning, they know what big matches look like. Yes, it’s not the same team as a couple of years ago, I think everyone’s in complete agreement with that. But they’ve got serial winners in that team who’ve been there, done it.
I’m making no apologies for saying this, this tournament is about big moments. It’s not about playing the best rugby all the time, forget about that. It’s not about that, this tournament. It’s about winning big moments. Ireland, over the years, have been really good at that.
Home record, they’re great against Scotland, Andy Farrell will have come up with a plan, they’ll be right up for it.
I think, almost, the first match of the Super Saturday has got so many different ways it can go and it’s so difficult to call it. If someone said, ‘You have to put your house on one result’…I think either Scotland win it comfortably like they did last week, or Ireland just nick it. I’m really torn between the two of them.
Many people will have the same thought as Biggar; that Scotland would be in a far stronger position had they not relinquished a flurry of late tries to France and allowed them to claim two bonus points at Murrayfield.
Instead of coming into this weekend as strong favourites for the title, Scotland now face the real possibility of ending up in third in the table.
Roll on Super Saturday. Ireland v Scotland kicks off at 2:10pm at the Aviva Stadium, live on Virgin Media One and ITV.
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