Farrell: Scotland Are A Side We’ve Always Respected

The general feeling is that only Ireland’s best will do if they are to finish the Guinness Men’s Six Nations with a fourth straight win, retaining the Triple Crown in the process, and leapfrogging Scotland in the table to keep alive their slim title hopes.

Despite losing 50-40 in Edinburgh last week, France remain on track to become back-to-back champions. Depending on the result in Dublin, les Bleus will need to claim four or five match points at home to England in the Championship closer.

Scotland’s impressive recovery from their first round loss to Italy has earned them a shot at both Triple Crown and Six Nations glory this weekend. Scoring wise, talismanic out-half Finn Russell (42 points) and wingers Darcy Graham and Kyle Steyn, with three tries each, have led the way for them.

However, Ireland have had their number over the last nine years, winning the sides’ last 11 meetings, and have not lost at home to the Scots since 2010. Whoever comes out on top this time, it will make for a fascinating conclusion to the most unpredictable of Six Nations tournaments.

“They were outstanding last week against France, and we’ve been preparing for another Scottish performance like that,” said head coach Farrell, when speaking about Ireland’s final round opponents.

“We know that we’ll have to be at our best to beat them, as they’re a side that we’ve always respected. Obviously, the rest of it (the title race) is out of our hands, but there is something that’s in our hands.

“We concentrate on our performance first and foremost of trying to win something that’s pretty special to us, that’s the Triple Crown.

“You know, over the years, it’s been hard to come by when you’re playing for Ireland, so we’re desperate to make sure that we get across that.”

Ireland’s selected team to face Scotland is along expected lines, with a dozen of the starters from the record away win over England featuring in the line-up. The most notable absentee is James Ryan, who misses out due to a calf injury and is replaced by Joe McCarthy.

Tommy O’Brien has been preferred to Jacob Stockdale on the left wing, and there are two other changes to the team that won 27-17 against Wales, as Dan Sheehan and Josh van der Flier also return to the pack, replacing Rónan Kelleher and Nick Timoney respectively.

While Ireland will have two British & Irish Lions in McCarthy and Tadhg Beirne going up against Scotland’s changed second row pairing of Max Williamson and Grant Gilchrist, who have come in for the injured Gregor Brown and Scott Cummings, losing Ryan still comes as a considerable blow given his form.

The Leinster lock has been Ireland’s second leading ball-carrying forward (35) behind captain Caelan Doris (46) during the opening four rounds. In additiona, he ranks in the Championship’s top ten for attacking ruck arrivals (88).

“James had a bang during the Wales game. We thought it was just a contusion to his calf and we thought that was going to be fine,” explained Farrell.

“Sunday, Monday, he was looking that way, but we tried to get him going, we trained Tuesday and he didn’t even get to start on Tuesday. So that was that, and the rest of the squad have trained fully therefore after that.

“It’s disappointing for James and disappointing for us because he’s been in unbelievable form in this Six Nations.

“So, any type of team would miss a player like James Ryan. But as far as our preparation is concerned, it’s not been too disruptive because everyone’s trained fully all week.”

With Ryan ruled out, Connacht’s Darragh Murray will provide second row cover on the bench. He won his first two Ireland caps against Georgia and Portugal last July, and has been training with the senior squad during the Six Nations after initially been brought in for the pre-tournament camp in Quinta do Lago.

The 24-year-old from Roscommon, who recently signed a new two-year deal with his home province, is poised to become Ireland’s eleventh Six Nations debutant of the current campaign, with that group including his captain at Connacht, Cian Prendergast.

Farrell says it is a deserved promotion for Murray’s hard work behind the scenes, saying: “First and foremost, he is a great rugby player. He’s obviously very young, and he has had a very patient campaign so far.

“He’s been an unbelievable team-mate in how he’s helped prepare everyone else through this Six Nations. It just shows, doesn’t it, the attritional side of the game, which is the Six Nations, that anything could jump out at you.

“It just shows if you prepare well and keep showing everyone that you belong at this type of level, then people will put their trust in you. That is certainly what’s happened for us with Darragh this week.”

Following a strong display last Friday when making his first Six Nations start, Ulster prop Tom O’Toole has retained the number 1 jersey. His switch to the loosehead side has shown early signs of success, and giving him more Test exposure in the position, against Scotland’s Zander Fagerson, will stand him in good stead.

Farrell feels that is the case for a number of players who have started Six Nations games for the first time in recent weeks. Playing a crunch Test match at home against a high-flying Scottish team on ‘Super Saturday’, with silverware on the line, will certainly accelerate their international development.

“Tom is a fantastic rugby player around the field, and putting the two together, the set-piece stuff and his normal game, and putting it on the field on Saturday is his goal.

“I also think the likes of Tom, Nick Timoney, and Rob Baloucoune, and we could go through the squad, being able to put those type of lads in this type of situation, you could call it ‘cup final’ week, it’s going to be fantastic for us going forward.

“Those lads experiencing this type of weekend, along with the lads who have been there and done this journey before, is going to stand to us.”

Asked about handing O’Brien the number 11 jersey, ahead of Stockdale who was back on the scoresheet against Wales, he added: “We all know what type of player Tommy is. He’s the type of player that attacks the game and that is the only way he knows.

“He certainly did that against England, so he deserves his chance this weekend. But also Jacob could be proud of what he’s done over this Six Nations, as far as proving to himself and to us and to everyone else that he’s back at this level.

“I think he’s made great strides in getting back onto the international scene, and yeah, he’s very unlucky. I suppose he’d be disappointed as well not to take to the field this weekend.”