Ireland dramatically won away in France in round one, swept aside Italy a week later and edged a cracker against Wales last time out. Can Joe Schmidt’s men stay on course for the NatWest 6 Nations title and a possible Grand Slam when Scotland pay them a visit?
2018 NATWEST 6 NATIONS CHAMPIONSHIP: Saturday, March 10
IRELAND (1st) v SCOTLAND (3rd), Aviva Stadium, 2.15pm (live TV3/UTV/ITV/FR2/DMAX/NBC/RTÉ Radio 1/IRFU Live Blog)
Team News: Garry Ringrose, Tadhg Furlong and Iain Henderson all return from injury to feature in the Ireland matchday squad for Saturday’s final NatWest 6 Nations home game against Scotland at the Aviva Stadium.
Head coach Joe Schmidt has made two changes to the team that defeated Wales 37-27 in Dublin two weeks ago, as Ireland look to take a step closer to their first Six Nations title since 2015.
Furlong has recovered from a hamstring injury to reclaim the number 3 jersey from Andrew Porter, who proved a more than able deputy against the Welsh. The other change sees Ringrose take over from the injured Chris Farrell (ACL) at outside centre.
Forming an exciting midfield pairing with Bundee Aki, Ringrose is back on the international stage for the first time since last summer’s tour of the USA and Japan. The 23-year-old has had an injured-disrupted season following shoulder surgery and a more recent operation on an ankle injury.
The back-line is completed by key half-backs Jonathan Sexton, who is the Championship’s third top scorer with 32 points, and Conor Murray, and Rob Kearney, Keith Earls and Jacob Stockdale are set for their fourth successive outing together in the back-three.
Stockdale has enjoyed a dream start to his Ireland career with eight tries in seven Tests. The 21-year-old Ulster winger is the current leading try scorer in the 2018 Six Nations with four tries – a brace each against Italy and Wales.
It is the same starting front row from the opening round win over France as Furlong is reunited with Cian Healy and hooker Rory Best, who is seeking his 16th victory in 25 Tests as Ireland captain.
James Ryan packs down again alongside his Leinster colleague Devin Toner in the second row, while the loose forward trio is also unchanged with Dan Leavy combining with Munster duo Peter O’Mahony and CJ Stander. Henderson, who is back to full fitness, and Jordi Murphy provide lock and back row cover on the bench.
Murphy played against Fiji last November and his most recent Six Nations appearance came in Ireland’s memorable 2015 final round triumph over Scotland in Edinburgh. The final switch for this weekend sees recent debutant Jordan Larmour get the nod for the number 23 shirt.
Commenting on Ringrose’s return and the battle for the second row spots, Schmidt said: “There are always concerns about players for different reasons. Garry has only had six games in this entire season. That’s something you calculate in but sometimes you don’t have the luxury of a plethora of options as is the case at centre for us now.
“Garry’s been extraordinary when he has played for us. He’s done great. He was outstanding in Japan in the back-line along with Keith Earls. We’re hoping he can hit the ground running and get straight back into that form.
“He’s a smart player, and hopefully he can get the balance between when he has to work hard and when he can get a breather back on the pitch. It’s a needs-must situation, but it’s a situation where we’ve got a lot of trust and faith in Garry.
“There wasn’t much between the three of them (James, Devin and Iain for the second row), they have done really well in the Championship so far. It was just trying to keep continuity with what we’d done against Wales and heading into this game.
“Iain was fully fit, he could have played against Wales which would have been a risk but that’s not the case this time. We’re just trying to keep a balance. And it could add to the last 30 minutes of our game bringing on an athlete like him. That also applies to the energy Jack McGrath and Andrew Porter can bring to us.”
Meanwhile, back-to-back wins over France and England at BT Murrayfield have earned all but one of the Scottish starting XV the opportunity to take their home form on the road, with Glasgow Warriors winger Tommy Seymour the only change in personnel.
Seymour has failed to recover sufficiently from the back injury he suffered during the memorable 25-13 Calcutta Cup win over England last time out. Edinburgh’s Blair Kinghorn comes in for first start for Scotland on the right wing, with Lee Jones from Glasgow added to the bench.
Head coach Gregor Townsend has made one further change to the replacements, with Glasgow hooker Fraser Brown, who featured in all but two of Scotland’s Tests last year, returning from injury to replace Scott Lawson.
Former out-half Townsend said: “We were delighted with the result against England and backing up our win against France with an improved performance. The intent we showed in attack and defence in the first half was very encouraging and we continued to work hard in the second half.
“The effort that went into denying England a second try in the closing minutes was great to see. Our players had prepared very well for the challenge of taking on England and there has been a similar focus and commitment this week at training.
“There are a few areas of our game that we are working to improve and we are aware that we will have to be better if we are to beat a very good Ireland side in Dublin.”
NatWest 6 Nations Results/Fixtures
IRELAND: Rob Kearney (UCD/Leinster); Keith Earls (Young Munster/Munster), Garry Ringrose (UCD/Leinster), Bundee Aki (Galwegians/Connacht), Jacob Stockdale (Ballynahinch/Ulster); Jonathan Sexton (St. Mary’s College/Leinster), Conor Murray (Garryowen/Munster); Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster), Rory Best (Banbridge/Ulster) (capt), Tadhg Furlong (Clontarf/Leinster), James Ryan (UCD/Leinster), Devin Toner (Lansdowne/Leinster), Peter O’Mahony (Cork Constitution/Munster), Dan Leavy (UCD/Leinster), CJ Stander (Shannon/Munster).
Replacements: Sean Cronin (St. Mary’s College/Leinster), Jack McGrath (St. Mary’s College/Leinster), Andrew Porter (UCD/Leinster), Iain Henderson (Ballynahinch/Ulster), Jordi Murphy (Lansdowne/Leinster), Kieran Marmion (Corinthians/Connacht), Joey Carbery (Clontarf/Leinster), Jordan Larmour (St. Mary’s College/Leinster).
SCOTLAND: Stuart Hogg (Glasgow Warriors); Blair Kinghorn (Edinburgh), Huw Jones (Glasgow Warriors), Pete Horne (Glasgow Warriors), Sean Maitland (Saracens); Finn Russell (Glasgow Warriors), Greig Laidlaw (Clermont Auvergne); Gordon Reid (London Irish), Stuart McInally (Edinburgh), Simon Berghan (Edinburgh), Grant Gilchrist (Edinburgh), Jonny Gray (Glasgow Warriors), John Barclay (Scarlets) (capt), Hamish Watson (Edinburgh), Ryan Wilson (Glasgow Warriors).
Replacements: Fraser Brown (Glasgow Warriors), Jamie Bhatti (Glasgow Warriors), Willem Nel (Edinburgh), Tim Swinson (Glasgow Warriors), David Denton (Worcester Warriors), Ali Price (Glasgow Warriors), Nick Grigg (Glasgow Warriors), Lee Jones (Glasgow Warriors).
Referee: Wayne Barnes (England)
Assistant Referees: Ben O’Keeffe (New Zealand), Luke Pearce (England)
Television Match Official: George Ayoub (Australia)
Match Odds (Paddy Power): Ireland to win: 1/4; Draw: 25/1; Scotland to win: 7/2
Pre-Match Quotes: Rory Best (Ireland) – “We got ourselves back into it (against Scotland last year) and we breathed a sigh of relief. But that was a mistake because if you do that in Tests, you can easily lose control. You can’t afford to do that and we paid heavily for it (in a 27-22 defeat).
“I think when you look at Scotland’s first game in Cardiff (when they lost heavily to Wales), the squad they’ve named now, there have been a lot of changes, a lot of very important people have come back in.
“It’d be rich if I sat up here and said you can’t be caught cold at the start of a Championship, it happened to us 12 months ago. We don’t focus on home or away records, we focus on the threats. When we do analysis we don’t look at the stadium, we look at players, and the way they execute moves.
“Garry (Ringrose) has the advantage of youth (he is 23) whereby there is a little bit less of a fear factor. You haven’t really faced as many adversities as those with 60 caps. He is a great talent and an impressive character, In the first few moments he will probably try and catch his breath. I would say to him don’t build into the game, explode into it.”
Greig Laidlaw (Scotland) – “I think Ireland will have a slightly different team (compared to 2017). They’ve had some personnel changes since last year and obviously we are away from home this time. There’s certainly some things we can take from last year’s game, like we defended the game really well.
“Ireland will want to keep hold of the ball and we need to get the ball back as much as we can, keeping hold of it ourselves, which we did well last year (when we won 27-22), so that’s one of the areas of the game we have looked at.
“In the context of Six Nations, it is a bigger challenge than facing England. If we are serious about challenging for the title then we need to win this game and clearly Ireland are unbeaten (this season). They are going well for a reason. They are a very good side. It’s going to be a huge test for us and one which we need to meet head-on.”
Pre-Match Links –
Head-To-Head: Ireland v Scotland
Irish Rugby TV: Ireland v Scotland Team Announcement Press Conference
Irish Rugby TV: Mike McCarthy Previews Ireland v Scotland
In The Chair: Garry Ringrose And Sam Arnold
In Pics: Ireland Training Ahead Of Scotland Match
Recent Meetings –
2015: RBS 6 Nations: Scotland 10 Ireland 40, Murrayfield; Rugby World Cup Warm-Up: Ireland 28 Scotland 22, Aviva Stadium
2016: RBS 6 Nations: Ireland 35 Scotland 25, Aviva Stadium
2017: RBS 6 Nations: Scotland 27 Ireland 22, BT Murrayfield
Support Ireland on www.irishrugby.ie/facebook or search #IREvSCO, #TeamOfUs and #ShouldertoShoulder on www.twitter.com/irishrugby.
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