England will hardly beat France, but Ireland still need to be fully tuned in against Scotland

Ireland and Scotland lock horns early on Saturday at the Aviva Stadium in a Triple Crown decider that could go either way, with the winner having an outside chance of being crowned Six Nations champions later that evening.

It seems bizarre to think that this is a meeting between two sides that lost badly in their openers, yet either could be crowned champions should France lose on Saturday evening.

Scotland were poor when beaten by Italy in Rome. It looked like the beginning of the end for head coach Gregor Townsend. Likewise, Andy Farrell’s future looked far from certain after the 36-14 loss to France. 

Both head coaches can thank meetings with floundering England for getting their reigns back on course.

The Scots completely ripped up the script when dismantling Grand Slam-chasing France at Murrayfield last weekend. 

The final score ended up being 50-40, but that scoreline only tells half the story as the homeside led 47-14 after 63 minutes after scoring seven scintillating tries to leave France completely shellshocked.

This Scottish side has scored 31 points against England and 50 against France. Those are numbers you might expect from an in-form South Africa or New Zealand side. 

They were impressive in those ties, but it must be noted that those performances were at Murrayfield. 

Scotland have not been as hot on the road, with them losing to Italy and in truth they should probably have lost to Wales in Cardiff.

It must be acknowledged that France played into Scotland’s hands too. 

The Scots love when it gets loose, and France were obliging last Saturday. This is something Ireland will not be.

Ireland are likely to be more pragmatic. They will certainly try to play rugby, but only when it’s on. We can expect a lot of kicking, although it should be nothing like the amount we saw in Paris.

DOMINANT

Another key factor that cannot be ignored is that Ireland have won the last 11 meetings between the two Celtic nations. 

The last Scottish victory was way back in February 2017, with Finn Russell, Huw Jones and Zander Fagerson being the only Scottish survivors from that encounter, while for Ireland Tadhg Furlong, Garry Ringrose and Josh van der Flier were involved that day.

That victory was the one win Scotland have had over Ireland in 16 attempts. 

Their last triumph in Dublin was way back in March of 2010 in the famous game where Dan Parks inspired the Scots to victory with a 78th-minute penalty in Croke Park.

This means that Scotland have never won a game since the Aviva Stadium was redeveloped from the old Lansdowne Road, with this being their tenth attempt at cracking it.

The closest they came to winning at the venue was two years ago when they lost 17-13, although it must be noted that a late converted Jones try made the scoreline look closer than it felt on the day.

Scotland’s blistering form against France means that all the attention is on them, but Ireland have also improved as the championship has progressed, with their performance in Twickenham being their standout display.

Jamie Osborne has quietly gone about his business at full-back, scoring in the last three rounds, while Stuart McCloskey has been Ireland’s player of the tournament at centre.

Jack Crowley has settled the team down since returning as first-choice out-half, although he will be well aware that he cannot afford to be missing kicks like the two he missed against Wales. 

There is clearly some deficiency in his kicking technique at present and it needs to be ironed out.

Jack Conan, Nick Timoney and Tom O’Toole have brought real energy to the Irish pack in recent rounds and Ireland will fancy dominating the Scottish pack on home turf, although the Scottish maul looked dangerous against France. 

For that reason alone, Joe McCarthy should start, as he was extremely effective in disrupting England in this respect at Twickenham.

Whoever wins will get to enjoy a few hours of hoping they might steal the championship, but it is difficult to envisage a Steve Borthwick-led England doing anyone a favour right now.