Friday, 20 March 2015

Scotland vs Ireland - Preview

The second game on Saturday sees a Scottish side desperate to avoid the wooden spoon host an Ireland side that last week lost for the first time in 11 games. Scotland will give it their all, they gave England a slight scare going in to the break 13-10 up last week, although they were comfortably the worse side throughout the match. They will be riled up, desperate to perform and to cause an upset against an Irish side that don't travel well under Schmidt. If the Irish push for a large points difference, they could come unstuck playing a style they are unfamiliar with so I'm sure Schmidt will send them out with the sole objective of winning and that will be that.

Adam Ashe comes in for Rob Harley in the Scottish side, a rather odd decision in my eyes but there is no doubting the 21 year olds ability. Healy comes in for McGrath who has a niggle, which is a shame because he had been playing very well. One change I am happy to see is that Luke Fitzgerald, who has been playing brilliantly lately for Leinster, makes his way in to the side over the underwhelming Simon Zebo. it is a shame Keith Earls hasn't replaced Jared Payne yet, and I'm sure it is only a matter of time, unless Schmidt remains stubborn with Payne until the World Cup and then looks to change.


The Scottish will make themselves very difficult to beat, even though they'd love to see the trophy slip out of England's grasp, and I expect a real fight from them, a fight that the Irish should cope with, but maybe not as easily as many Irishmen would hope after seeing how easy it was for England to create chances against them last week. Stuart Hogg and Blair Cowan will need to be brilliant as always, and Finn Russell will need to remain composed as he comes up against the master Jonny Sexton. The Murrayfield crowd will be hoping for an upset, but we reckon a normal, solid Irish win is on the cards.

Verdict: Scotland 12 - 22 Ireland



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