‘History Has No Relevance Really’ – Conan On Saturday’s Triple Crown Decider

Jack Conan says Ireland need to be ‘physically right on the edge’ if they are to overcome Scotland and end the Guinness Men’s Six Nations with silverware this weekend.

Conan and his team-mates came through a bruising battle with Wales last week, and another one awaits them in Saturday’s Triple Crown decider as Scotland come to Dublin high on confidence after stunning leaders France with a 50-40 defeat.

Having missed the England match through illness, the Bray man was back in player-of-the-match form in the 27-17 win over Wales. Along with his early second-half try, he was Ireland’s leading ball carrier (15) and offloader (4), and was one of five forwards to reach double figures for succesful tackles (13).

Andy Farrell will be wanting the same again and more from Conan, especially as the Scottish back row has been one of the tournament’s most effective units – Rory Darge has made the same amount of breakdown steals as Tadhg Beirne (5), and Matt Fagerson is in the top ten for carries, and both attacking and defensive ruck arrivals.

“I suppose there’s no real secret when it comes to international rugby. It’s intent, physicality,” insisted Conan, who has scored five tries in his last seven Six Nations appearances.

“Scotland are an unbelievably well-coached, well-drilled team. If we play how we played against France in the opening 40 minutes and don’t have that level of intent, you know they’re a good pack, especially the back row. I think their back row is going really well at the moment.

“We need to be physically right on the edge, winning collisions. I think that’s something that since the France game has been a noted improvement across the campaign. That won’t change from this week.”

Like many of the Ireland squad, Conan has positive memories of playing and winning against Scotland in the recent past. He made his international debut against the Scots back in August 2015, and has never lost to them at senior level, playing in nine wins out of nine.

Indeed, Scotland have not been victorious in this fixture since the 2017 Six Nations opener at Scottish Gas Murrayfield. Tadhg Furlong, Garry Ringrose, and Robbie Henshaw were starters that day, while Josh van der Flier was a second-half replacement in the 27-22 loss.

Ireland have put together an 11-match winning streak against Scotland over the last nine years, including a couple of pool triumphs at Rugby World Cups. However, head coach Farrell said that their dominant record is ‘irrelevant’ when it comes to Saturday’s showdown at the Aviva Stadium.

Conan, a try scorer against Scotland in 2023 and 2025, agreed: “I know we’ve had good success against Scotland the last while, but that will count for nothing if we don’t go out and perform at the weekend.

“No one’s going to look back and think, ‘Ah yeah, we beat them the last however many times we played them’, if we go out (and) we’re not as good as we possibly can be. That’s the challenge for us to be better again. History has no relevance really.

“Kind of not too different to ourselves after how we went against France, their disappointing loss to Italy on the first day, Scotland have bounced back really well and they’re playing some great rugby.

“We need to be at our best and push on from the levels of performance, even from Twickenham that we had through the week, because we obviously haven’t hit our straps as much as we did that day. So, that’ll be the challenge for us, is to be better again than we were then.”

The 33-year-old’s own Six Nations campaign has not fully gone to plan, with that untimely bout of illness seeing him withdrawn from the bench for the clash with England. But he has bounced back with two try-scoring performances, one at number 8 and the other at blindside flanker.

One of the most pleasing aspect of Ireland’s tournament so far has been the collective response to that disappointing start in Paris. They could have pointed to injuries in key areas as an excuse, but even with a handful of changes each week, they have since made notable strides in the right direction.

Conan has particularly been enthused by the players who are new to Six Nations rugby and how they have stepped up to the mark. They include fellow back rowers Cian Prendergast, Nick Timoney, and Cormac Izuchukwu, who have played 268 minutes between them and each had starting roles.

With Ireland picking up 14 points out of a possible 15 since that first round reversal, he explained: “It’s lads not losing confidence in what we are doing because we know we’re doing the right thing. We know we have the right people, the right coaches, the right players. So that’s been massively encouraging.

“I think it’s been great to see so many lads get first caps, or first starts in the Six Nations or to play in the Six Nations for the first time. Them stepping up to the mantle and grabbing hold of it.

“You look at Rob (Baloucoune) on the wing, Tommy (O’Brien), Eddie (Edogbo) getting his first cap, ‘Doaky’ (Nathan Doak). Nick (Timoney) getting his first start in the Six Nations. It’s huge, and it’s great for those lads to be going so well and pushing on and taking their opportunities.

“I think the squad is in a great place no matter who plays, and it’s just about building on it and staying in the moment. It is Test match rugby, it’s not always going to all go your own way, it never does.

“You’ve got to take the good with the bad, and leave it all behind you. Just focus on the next moment, do the next right thing, and not kind of get in on yourself.”

The Leinster back rower is determined to get the Irish pack operating as powerfully and effectively as possible against Gregor Townsend’s side, after conceding that ‘some of the attack bits probably let us down’ against Wales and that ‘we weren’t on it, especially as a forward unit’.

Asked if he is expecting the same amount of physicality from Scotland but a looser game given how threatening their back-line can be, he replied: “Scotland hold onto the ball really well, their forwards are pretty direct. They probably are a little bit less connected than Wales are at the line as a forward unit.

“They’re probably trying to play, running a line early, get on top, so they can play to width because they’ve obviously got some good athletes out wide, and they play a very expansive game.

“So that will be the challenge for us, to combat them in close and then build a bit of width back, and get after them again.”