'It will be an almighty struggle to get close to beating them at all'

Before all Ireland players and fans become momentary England supporters on Saturday evening, Andy Farrell’s men must overcome the challenge of Scotland at the Aviva Stadium.

Trailing France by just two points in the Guinness Six Nations table, Ireland will hope their record breaking win over England at Twickenham will be a catalyst for a bounce back in Paris, but they will not be taking Scotland lightly after they came away with a 33-22 win over Italy in Rome on Saturday.

When, where and how to watch the match
The match will kick-off at 16:45 (UK) on Saturday March 19th at the Aviva Stadium and will be broadcast live on ITV in the UK, Virgin Media in Ireland, Stan Sport in Australia and SuperSport in South Africa.

Freddie Burns and Ollie Lawrence join the podcast! | RugbyPass Offload | Episode 24

With Max unavailable this week, Freddie Burns steps into the breach to join Ryan and special guest Ollie Lawrence. Freddie gives us his take on Leicester’s strong start to the season and what makes him the ultimate stand-in superstar. Ollie talks us through his relationship with Eddie Jones and how his career could easily have taken a different turn. We get the guys’ best MLR impressions and Freddie asks the question every rugby player poses when watching football.

Freddie Burns and Ollie Lawrence join the podcast! | RugbyPass Offload | Episode 24

With Max unavailable this week, Freddie Burns steps into the breach to join Ryan and special guest Ollie Lawrence. Freddie gives us his take on Leicester’s strong start to the season and what makes him the ultimate stand-in superstar. Ollie talks us through his relationship with Eddie Jones and how his career could easily have taken a different turn. We get the guys’ best MLR impressions and Freddie asks the question every rugby player poses when watching football.

Head-to-head
In 138 meetings across their 145 year history, Ireland and Scotland are almost neck and neck in their rivalry. Ireland just lead with 67 wins, while Scotland have 66, with only five draws. Recent history is weighted towards Ireland though, where they have only lost one of their last eleven matches against the Scots.

Match odds from bet365
bet365 have the handicap on Ireland at -15, with 11/2 odds that Scotland win. There are also 5/16 odds that Ireland win both halves.

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Prediction
Former Scotland captain John Barclay outlined in The Times this week what a tough task it will be for Scotland to come away from Dublin with a win, but has taken heart from England’s 14-man display against Johnny Sexton and Co, where they illuminated some of their weaknesses.

“And so to Dublin for Saturday’s match against a team who have become Scotland’s nemesis in this competition,” the 76-cap Scot wrote. “The Scots are never going to beat them in an arm wrestle — it will be an almighty struggle to get close to beating them at all — but England showed that Farrell’s men are far from the impregnable force they appeared when seeing off the All Blacks last autumn.

“Scotland will have noted how England managed to harass them, and should take pointers. When trying to beat Ireland, the first thing you must do is avoid beating yourself, which England rather went against with the earliest red card in Six Nations history for Charlie Ewels.

“Thereafter, however, England’s game management was superb until the point at which their fuel tanks were empty. Of course it was out of necessity, but there is no getting away from the quality of decision-making and execution they showed to manage the game and play in the right areas.”

*Odds accurate as of 14/03/22.