Scotland will face Ireland in an interesting derby on Sunday, February 24th at Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh.
The Scots will host the match in the capital Edinburgh for the second game on the row after entertaining Italy last week at home. Whilst the Irish will have to travel and make the short trip to Scotland following their home defeat to England.
Going into the game, both sides have had a similar fate in the tournament as they have both taken a victory from the first two games, Scotland recorded a huge 34-10 win over Italy whilst Ireland got an away 20-33 win against Wales despite being pre-match underdogs. They then continue to have a similar trend by both having defeats to favourites England. Scotland lost their opening to English by 20, losing 38-18, whereas the Ireland’s defeat came more recent in the lowest scoring game of the tournament so far 12-6.
The two teams are fairly matched making an exciting prospect that is hard to call; especially since Scotland have the home advantage. However, in terms of winning the actual trophy, Ireland are very much favourite’s in comparison to Scotland as the Irish have found themselves climb into second favourites spot with bookmakers, priced at 11/2 trailing only to England. Whereas Scotland on the other hand are seen to have no chance as they are priced at 50/1 to finish on top.
Line-up
Scotland : 15-Stuart Hogg, 14-Sean Maitland, 13-Sean Lamont, 12-Matt Scott, 11-Tim Visser, 10-Ruaridh Jackson, 9-Greig Laidlaw; 1-Ryan Grant, 2-Ross Ford, 3-Geoff Cross, 4-Richie Gray, 5-Jim Hamilton, 6-Robert Harley, 7-Kelly Brown (captain), 8-Johnnie Beattie
Replacements: 16-Dougie Hall, 17-Jon Welsh, 18-Moray Low, 19-Alastair Kellock, 20-David Denton, 21-Henry Pyrgos, 22-Duncan Weir, 23-Max Evans
Ireland : 15-Rob Kearney; 14-Craig Gilroy, 13-Brian O’Driscoll, 12-Luke Marshall, 11-Keith Earls; 10-Paddy Jackson, 9-Conor Murray; 1-Tom Court, 2-Rory Best, 3-Mike Ross, 4-Donncha O’Callaghan, 5-Donnacha Ryan, 6-Peter O’Mahony, 7-Sean O’Brien, 8-Jamie Heaslip (captain).
Replacements: 16-Sean Cronin, 17-David Kilcoyne, 18-Declan Fitzpatrick, 19-Devin Toner, 20-Iain Henderson, 21-Eoin Reddan, 22-Ronan O’Gara, 23-Luke Fitzgerald
