What Tom Jordan makes of the 'Ireland have lost it' talk

Tom Jordan is relishing the prospect of Scotland being among the main protagonists on Super Saturday after being consigned to a bit-part role on the final weekend of last year’s Guinness Six Nations.

The Scots are braced for a three-way title shootout with Ireland and France this weekend after their exhilarating seven-try 50-40 victory over Les Bleus at Murrayfield on Saturday.

Gregor Townsend’s men must collect more match points against Ireland in Dublin than the French manage against England later in the day if they are to win the championship for the first time this century.

The situation is a far cry from this time a year ago when they kicked off their final match against impending champions France in Paris knowing they could finish no higher than fourth.

“It’s the best way to play rugby to be in it to the very end,” said versatile back Jordan, who scored Scotland’s seventh try on Saturday.

Fixture

Six Nations

Ireland

43 - 21

Full-time

Scotland

All Stats and Data

“Last year, I think at this point we were fourth come the last game over in Paris. So just having that change of mindset that you can go and win the tournament and be in contention is huge for everyone’s mindset and prepping for the week.

“I’m super excited. I’m loving where we’re at at the moment.”

Scotland’s hopes of contending for the championship looked to be over after they lost their opening match away to Italy, a result that brought intense pressure on Townsend and his players.

But a transformation in their fortunes means they will head into the final weekend buoyed by a stirring three-game winning streak.

“Looking back at the start of the Six Nations with the Italy loss and then bouncing back against England, we’ve just been trying to build the snowball, build that momentum,” said Bristol back Jordan.

“After the Wales game, we knew that these last two games after the break (against Ireland and France), we would have an opportunity to go further and have a chance to win the tournament.

“I think having that sort of mindset going into the game was really good for us. Hopefully we can just keep growing the snowball a little bit more for one more week and just leave it all out there.”

If Scotland are to win the title, they will have to defeat Ireland for the first time in nine years and the first time in Dublin for 16 years.

Back-rower Matt Fagerson played down any notion that the Irish, still in title contention themselves, are a team on the wane.

“It’s obviously an incredibly tough place to go,” he said. “A lot of people have been talking about, ‘have Ireland maybe have lost it?’ but you saw what they did to England at Twickenham (they won 42-21 last month).

“They’re still top three in the world and they’re an incredible team. We’ll do our due diligence on them this week but this squad’s got a lot of confidence.

“Last game of the Six Nations, it’s all on the line. If you can’t get up for that, you’re in the wrong place.”