After their bid to land a second successive Grand Slam was ended last Ireland now aim to secure the Six Nations title when they host Scotland in Dublin on Saturday
Ireland v Scotland, Saturday 16th March, Dublin, KO 18:45 (South African time)
Referee: Matthew Carley (RFU)
Assistant Referees: Karl Dickson (RFU), Christophe Ridley (RFU)
TMO: Marius Jonker (SARU)
Weather Forecast – Dublin
Ireland
Ireland tp the standings with 16 points, 4 better off than second placed England who take on France in Lyon later on Saturday. Any sort of win or even a draw will wrap up the title for the Irish and even a losing bonus point could be enough.
The Grand Slam bid ended at Twickenham in Round 4 when Ireland, who started as 11.5 point favourites, were edged out 23-22. The game was eventually settled by a last gasp drop goal for England who scored 3 tries to Ireland's 2 and Crowley's 4 penalties were not enough for Ireland to avoid defeat.
Earlier Ireland completed bonus point home wins over Wales (31-7) in Round 3 and Italy (36-0) in Dublin in Round 2. Ireland started by beating France 38-17 in Marseille. Les Bleus had a man sent off in the first half and Ireland ran in 5 tries to land a bonus point
Fixtures & Results: R1 France (a) won 38-17, R2 Italy (h) won 36-0, R3 Wales (h) won 31-7, R4 England (a) lost 23-22, R5 Scotland (h)
Scotland
Scotland come into the final round in third place on 11 points, 5 shy of Ireland but it would take bonus point win for the Scots here and a huge turnaround in points difference for them to turn those standings around. Scotland are ahead of France on points difference and just 1 point behind second placed England so a runners up spot is a more realistic target.
Scotland were 11.5 point favourites for last week's trip to Rome to face Italy but despite leading 22-10 at one stage of the first half they were eventually beaten 31-29.
In earlier results Scotland completed a 30-21 home win over England in Round 3 and they went down 20-16 to France in controversial circumstances at Murrayfield in Round 2 when then had what they believed was the winning try chalked off by the TMO right at the death. Scotland opened up with a 27-26 victory over Wales in Cardiff. They went into half time 20-0 up and the lead was extended to 27-0 early in the second half. Cue an amazing Welsh fightback and Scotland had to hang on at the death.
Fixtures & Results: R1 Wales (a) won 27-26, R2 France (h) lost 20-16, R3 England (h) won 30-21, R4 Italy (a) lost 31-29, R5 Ireland (a)
Team News
Ireland: 15 Hugo Keenan, 14 Calvin Nash, 13 Robbie Henshaw, 12 Bundee Aki, 11 James Lowe, 10 Jack Crowley, 9 Jamison Gibson-Park, 8 Caelan Doris, 7 Josh van der Flier, 6 Peter O’Mahony (captain), 5 Tadhg Beirne, 4 Joe McCarthy, 3 Tadhg Furlong, 2 Dan Sheehan, 1 Andrew Porter.
Replacements: 16 Ronan Kelleher, 17 Cian Healy, 18 Finlay Bealham, 19 Ryan Baird, 20 Jack Conan, 21 Conor Murray, 22 Harry Byrne, 23 Garry Ringrose
Scotland: 15 Blair Kinghorn, 14 Kyle Steyn, 13 Huw Jones, 12 Stafford McDowall, 11 Duhan van der Merwe, 10 Finn Russell (cc), 9 Ben White, 8 Jack Dempsey, 7 Rory Darge (cc), 6 Andy Christie, 5 Scott Cummings, 4 Grant Gilchrist, 3 Zander Fagerson, 2 George Turner, 1 Pierre Schoeman
Replacements: 16 Ewan Ashman, 17 Rory Sutherland, 18 Elliot Millar-Mills, 19 Sam Skinner, 20 Matt Fagerson, 21 George Horne, 22 Cameron Redpath, 23 Kyle Rowe
Head to Head (6 Nations Only)
2023 6N Edinburgh Scotland 7–22 Ireland (Tries ( 1-3 )
2022 6N Dublin Ireland 26–5 Scotland (Tries 4-1 )
2021 6N Edinburgh Scotland 24–27 Ireland (Tries 3-2 )
2020 6N Dublin Ireland 19-12 Scotland (Tries 1-0)
2019 6N Edinburgh Scotland 10-22 Ireland (Tries 1-3)
2018 6N Dublin Ireland 28-8 Scotland (Tries 4-1)
2017 6N Edinburgh Scotland 27-22 Ireland (Tries 3-3)
2016 6N Dublin Ireland 35–25 Scotland (Tries 4-3)
The Betting
Ireland -15.5 points at 9/10
Scotland +16.5 points at 9/10
Note, odds quoted are correct at the time of writing but are subject to change.
Betting Angle
Ireland sit on the verge of clinching the Six Nations Championship so it seems strange to say they will be a bit disappointed with their campaign which never really reached the heights of that opening away win against France.
Scotland themselves have been a bit hit and miss and they were very unlucky to lose to France, but would have been disappointed to blow a handy lead last week against Italy.
My first instinct was to go overs on points here at, 49.5, but looking at recent history between these sides, only 1 of the last 7 Six Nations matches would have seen this bet arrive. At the end of the day I think this handicap is well set and while pondering a bigger play which I will post in the Forum, close to kick-off, I am going for the Irish to win this game by 11-20 points inclusive.
BET: 2 UNITS, Ireland by 11-20 points at 5/2 at BetXchange
Note, odds are correct at the time of writing but are subject to change
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