Third place in the Autumn Nations Cup is the prize on offer as Ireland and Scotland meet in the final game of the 2020 Guinness Series at the Aviva Stadium.
The Autumn Nations Cup 3rd-4th place play-off sees the return of fit-again out-half Jonathan Sexton as captain, with uncapped Ulster prop Eric O’Sullivan included on the bench.
Sexton, who has overcome a hamstring injury, Robbie Henshaw and Bundee Aki are the back-line changes from last Sunday’s 23-10 victory over Georgia in Group A.
Sexton is reunited with Conor Murray at half-back, while the unchanged back-three is made up of Keith Earls, Hugo Keenan and full-back Jacob Stockdale, who has scored three tries in four Tests against Scotland.
Cian Healy takes his caps haul to 104 at loosehead prop, rejoining Rob Herring and Andrew Porter in the front row. It will be Porter’s sixth successive Test start since rugby’s restart.
James Ryan, who captained the team in the last two rounds of the Autumn Nations Cup, and Iain Henderson are retained as the second row combination.
CJ Stander reverts to the blindside flankert berth with Peter O’Mahony and Caelan Doris, a debutant against the Scots back in February, slotting back in at openside and number 8 respectively.
O’Sullivan (pictured below) is joined in the replacements by Ronan Kelleher, John Ryan, Quinn Roux and Josh van der Flier, while Jamison Gibson-Park, Ross Byrne and Chris Farrell provide the back-line cover.
Speaking ahead of the game, which will be shown live on RTÉ 2 and Amazon Prime (UK only), Andy Farrell said: “We want to be better than that second half performance (against Georgia). Obviously this is a slightly different team, but at the same time we know that we’re up against a very good Scottish side.
It was a tough ask the last time we played against Scotland here at the Aviva and obviously a lot of what has been going on over the last five games is about building towards next year’s Six Nations.
“This is a big building block towards that. They’re a side that’s been together for a while and obviously they’ve got a very experienced coach there with Gregor (Townsend).
“He does a fine job and I love the way that he coaches. They’ll be very bullish. They were disappointed in the 19-12 loss back in February. I’m sure they’ll be looking forward to this game.
“We always want to put in a performance, but obviously professional sport doesn’t always go your way. This is the next game on the calendar for us so it’s always important. It’s always the most important of the year. That’s how we’re looking at it.”
Meanwhile, Edinburgh out-half Jaco van de Walt will make his Scotland debut as one of six changes to the team to play Ireland in Dublin.
Captain Stuart Hogg wins his 80th Scotland cap in a back-three completed by Edinburgh speedsters Darcy Graham and Duhan van der Merwe. It is the latter’s first time to face Ireland.
Saracens’ Duncan Taylor gets his first Test start since the 2019 Rugby World Cup, lining out in midfield alongside Chris Harris who has started every one of the Scots’ autumn matches.
Glasgow Warriors pair Ali Price and Scott Cummings are the two other ever-presents selected by Townsend, who retains the core of the pack from the 22-15 defeat to France.
Cummings, Jonny Gray, Matt Fagerson and hooker Fraser Brown all start again, while Edinburgh loosehead Rory Sutherland returns to front row duties alongside Zander Fagerson and Brown.
The back row sees a positional change and a new combination with Edinburgh flanker Jamie Ritchie moving to openside flanker and Scarlets’ Blade Thomson on the blindside.
Glasgow’s Huw Jones and London Irish flanker Blair Cowan could make their first appearances of the autumn campaign from the bench. Winger Sean Maitland is poised to come on for his 50th cap.
Autumn Nations Cup Fixtures/Results
Autumn Nations Cup Table
IRELAND: Jacob Stockdale (Lurgan/Ulster); Hugo Keenan (UCD/Leinster), Robbie Henshaw (Buccaneers/Leinster), Bundee Aki (Galwegians/Connacht), Keith Earls (Young Munster/Munster); Jonathan Sexton (St. Mary’s College/Leinster) (capt), Conor Murray (Garryowen/Munster); Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster), Rob Herring (Ballynahinch/Ulster), Andrew Porter (UCD/Leinster), Iain Henderson (Academy/Ulster), James Ryan (UCD/Leinster), CJ Stander (Shannon/Munster), Peter O’Mahony (Cork Constitution/Munster), Caelan Doris (St. Mary’s College/Leinster).
Replacements: Ronan Kelleher (Lansdowne/Leinster), Eric O’Sullivan (Banbridge/Ulster), John Ryan (Cork Constitution/Munster), Quinn Roux (Galwegians/Connacht), Josh van der Flier (UCD/Leinster), Jamison Gibson-Park ( Leinster), Ross Byrne (UCD/Leinster), Chris Farrell (Young Munster/Munster).
SCOTLAND: Stuart Hogg (Exeter Chiefs) (capt); Darcy Graham (Edinburgh), Chris Harris (Gloucester), Duncan Taylor (Saracens), Duhan van der Merwe (Edinburgh); Jaco van der Walt (Edinburgh), Ali Price (Glasgow Warriors); Rory Sutherland (Edinburgh), Fraser Brown (Glasgow Warriors), Zander Fagerson (Glasgow Warriors), Scott Cummings (Glasgow Warriors), Jonny Gray (Exeter Chiefs), Blade Thomson (Scarlets), Jamie Ritchie (Edinburgh), Matt Fagerson (Glasgow Warriors).
Replacements: Stuart McInally (Edinburgh), Oli Kebble (Glasgow Warriors), Willem Nel (Edinburgh), Sam Skinner (Exeter Chiefs), Blair Cowan (London Irish), Sam Hidalgo-Clyne (Exeter Chiefs), Huw Jones (Glasgow Warriors), Sean Maitland (Saracens).
Referee: Matt Carley (England)
Assistant Referees: Romain Poite (France), Karl Dickson (England)
Television Match Official: Dan Jones (Wales)
Pre-Match Quotes: Jonathan Sexton (Ireland) –
It’s obviously the first season with this new group and it has been stop-start for obvious reasons and we’ve come together for this prolonged period of time.
“We feel we’ve done some really good work and we haven’t put it out there for people to see and this Saturday is about trying to do that.
“Trying to put all the pieces together, take all the lessons and put out a performance that we’re proud of. That leads us into the Six Nations, because we have big aspirations with this group and we want to start taking steps forward.
“We’ll be the first to admit we haven’t put the performance in for the full 80 minutes that we want. We’ve shown bits and pieces that have been really good. Some stuff that hasn’t been so good, but we’re determined to put in an 80-minute performance.”
Darcy Graham (Scotland) –
Jaco (van der Walt) is class. He’s really good at taking the ball to the line and he’s real physical. For Edinburgh he gets jackals and turnovers in that contact area, so he’s a really physical 10, which is good for us.
“Ireland are a big, physical team and they’ve got a lot of jackal threats, so we’re going to have to be sharp to the breakdown and not let them get any momentum in there and let them into the game that way.
“We’re going over there to play our own game. It’s always a privilege to pull on the Scotland jersey, I always love to do it and it has been a very enjoyable camp.
“The boys have been close, we can’t really go out and do much, but they’ve made it really enjoyable being in camp. It’s been good being with each other, we don’t normally spend this much time together, unless it’s a World Cup year.”
Pre-Match Links –
Free Digital Match Programme – Ireland v Scotland
Ireland Stars Support Aviva’s ‘Tree Of Life’ Campaign For St. Francis Hospice
Head-To-Head: Ireland v Scotland
In Pics: Ireland Captain’s Run At Aviva Stadium
‘This Is A Big Building Block Towards Six Nations’ – Farrell
Herring: Eric’s Call-Up Is ‘Massively Deserved’
Catt: It’s Always A Big Physical Battle With Scotland
Recent Meetings –
2018: NatWest 6 Nations: Ireland 28 Scotland 8, Aviva Stadium
2019: Guinness Six Nations: Scotland 13 Ireland 22, BT Murrayfield; Rugby World Cup Pool A: Ireland 27 Scotland 3, International Stadium Yokohama
2020: Guinness Six Nations: Ireland 19 Scotland 12, Aviva Stadium
Support Ireland on www.facebook.com/irishrugby or search #IREvSCO, #ShouldertoShoulder and #TeamOfUs on www.twitter.com/irishrugby.