Scotland v Ireland.

Murrayfield Stadium. Kick-Off 2:15PM. Live TV Coverage on VM1 and BBC 1 from 2PM



I've always loved the Royal City of Edinburgh, almost as much as I love Dublin. There is something about the place that just gets my grá and I just don't know what.

Maybe it's the Castle, sitting almost mythically upon a granite ledge as it overlooks the city and reminds it of a government past. But hey we do better, we have a castle, and one that reminds us of a government past as well, expect in our case it is past.

Or it's literary history. Boswell, Scott and Stevenson to Welch and Rowling. But hey we do better, we have Wilde, Beckett, Joyce and Swift, Toíbín and Doyle as well.

Or maybe it's the spires of it's many Kirks, standing stiff, grimy and upright over a city as a reminder of the nations staunch religious past. Buy hey we do better, we have spires too, and they remind us of our nations staunch religious past, except in our case it is past.

Or maybe it's it's Georgian City, planned and set in wide streets and occupied by.....But hey we do better, ours is better as well.

And the same is true of rugby. For a land that has given us Dell, Hogg and Russell.... But hey we do better. A lot better....




Scotland come into this weeks game off the back of a comfortable win against a soft Italy team. The win was one of those games in which it was hard to figure out quite what was going on for the most most part, one where at times where the least worst team won . Several soft tries flattered the home team somewhat but a late flurry of grafted from the visitors asks more questions about the home defence than the home defence ought to have raised. With all of that said, this Scotland team is a better team than Scotland of a few seasons ago and given space and time, the ability to recycle ball is a joy to watch

And then comes Ireland.

Coming off the back of a loss against a smart England team who out Irished the Irish, the favourites for back to back Six Nations Titles are suddenly facing the prospect of having a season written off two weeks into February. Some players did not do well last week and the Henshaw debate will run and run, that we all know. But while Ireland were not bossed out of the game there was a certain amount of telegraphing of the Irish format by Eddie Jones that wasn't kipped until, well, it was too late to. Bygones.

Anyway, the team selection at both Team Camps reflect both injuries and tactical apathy from last weekends exploits. Two injuries in the pack see WP Nel and Sam Skinner cry off, replaced by Ryan Wilson and Simon Berghan. The return of Jonny Grey is tactical, Ben Toolis reverting to the bench, while Fraser Brown is called up to the bench as cover at hooker, a move that should help the home scrum over the 80 on what will be a cold wet pitch.


What made the brows rise most of all was the dropping of Blair Kinghorn, after his hat trick, for Sean Maitland. While much was expected of the young winger, Maitland is far more accomplished in defence and is telling, perhaps more so after the late Italian tries.

Ireland for their part have made a lot of chances tactical and GP led. Quinn Roux comes into second row in place of Devin Toner, who's season is as good as over after ankle surgery this week. His Leinster teammate, Henshaw is also injured albeit with a dead leg and is replaced by Robert Kearney, which should soothe the full back line somewhat. In the back row Jack Conan replaces CJ Stander at 8, with Sean Tullow O'Brien swapping shirts with Josh Van Der Flier while in form Chris Farrell replaces injured Gary Ringrose in the midfield.

The problems with the Irish game were seem to be many last week but in truth they were few.

More than anything Ireland was found wanting for the crucial first 20 minutes as England played a total ball in hand game, choosing to run and suck in the Irish back row at breakdown time. When the time was right and the crucial back rower were tied up they ran the ball wide; when the front rows were tied up then they kicked high knowing that mauls were less likely and when the defence line was tight they kicked over and long to expose the Full Back Line. In all case they avoided scrummaging like the plague.

Crucially Scotland don't have a team to do the same thing tomorrow. In Finn Russell they have arguably the worst Fly Half in International Rugby as far as kicking goes so this minimises the risk of tactical kicking. Their back row can carry but they are not England, not close to as good as carrying and in any case their chance of getting clean ball to run is lower.

Also, this is not Italy that they are playing but a team who are rated higher than then and are an echelon over them in terms of the game today. Last week Italy got stronger while Scotland got weaker; Ireland's bench has 3 significant game changers to call on late into the day.

Fact is, Ireland's season is on the line here, and possibly their World Cup as well. There will be blood in Murrayfield and it will not be pretty. Scotland are good.

But Hey, Better do Better