Six Nations title ‘out of Scotland’s hands’ ahead of Ireland finale
Gregor Townsend has downplayed talk of Scotland’s maiden Guinness Six Nations title, emphasising the significant challenge that still lies ahead for his squad.
As ‘Super Saturday’ approaches, Scotland finds itself among three nations vying for the championship, alongside current leaders France and their upcoming opponents, Ireland.
For Scotland to make history, they must secure more match points in their Dublin clash than Les Bleus manage against England in the later kick-off in Paris.
When asked if he had allowed himself to ponder leading the Scots to their first title of the Six Nations era, head coach Townsend said: “No. It’s out of our hands, really.
“We can only do a certain amount. It’s a game for us to play against an opponent that’s had the upper hand on us for years.
“We’re playing them away from home. They’ve got a brilliant record at home. It’s a challenge but a real opportunity for us to go and deliver an even better performance than we did last week.
“It would be great to finish the championship with a win and finish on a high. That will obviously carry on the momentum and if that means we win the game, we obviously know there’s something at stake.
“Those that have been selected know that it is a big opportunity. It’s not a cup final, there’s not just two teams in this championship, but there is an element of that. It’s the last game of the tournament, so we’ll leave everything out there.”
The Scotland squad flew out to Ireland on Thursday afternoon buoyed by a run of three consecutive victories over England, Wales and France, with their 50-40 triumph over Les Bleus last weekend particularly inspiring.
“That performance was close to the best that we’ve seen from this group and from probably any Scotland team,” said Townsend. “The expectations might be there to repeat that performance in Dublin but what we want to see from it is, ‘are they physically ready?’
“We’ve seen them at training this week, we’ve done some contact work yesterday, and they’re up for that challenge. Then you just have to work out what game needs to be delivered.
“It’ll be a different game than last week so you’ve got to adapt, stick together for that 80 minutes and give it everything because it’s going to be your last opportunity in this year’s Six Nations and last opportunity as a team for a few months.”
Scotland have lost their past 11 meetings with Ireland, with their last win in the fixture coming nine years ago. A victory this weekend would secure a first Triple Crown for the Scots since 1990.
“I think the belief is there that when we get our game right, it can put pressure on any defence and when we get our defence in place, we can frustrate opposition,” said Townsend. “But this is a different challenge.
“Ireland seem to play very well against us so that’s what we’re expecting. Their performance against England was one of the standout performances of this year’s championship and if they deliver that, which we’re expecting them to do, we’re going to have to be very, very good to win.”