Scotland vs Ireland - your predictions

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Ok, lets put the money where our mouths are. What is your score prediction and what is the battle you think will be key


My go -

Scotland 21 - Ireland 15


No. 9 will be the key. Can jackson get the better of the irish and control the game. We got a master class from them in the 6 nations - time for the student to become the teacher

Back to Scotland by 10

Having seen the sides, I'm happy to stick by my initial prediction of Scotland by 10.

I just hope the anticipated dominance of our forwards doesn't lead us to a negative game plan. Our backs are a little heavy and clunky, but hopefully Jackson and CP can do enough to put them in space, and although Walker is a good bit taller than Fitzgerald, please no myopic cross field kicks!

Riskysports wrote:Back to Scotland by 10

+1, two scores

I'm going for Ireland to scrape by about 3-5 points. If I had to stick my neck out I would say Ireland 20-15 Scotland.

I'm assuming (hoping really) that Scotland don't score any tries there. If Scotland suddenly discover that it's possible to score tries they might win.

I feel not missing any first up tackles and challenging well at the breakdown would make it very possible for us to leave with our tryline unbreached, whereas I'd back us to cross the whitewash with the talent we have from 10 out. Question is, can we keep the ball in the right areas of the field and remain disciplined enough to avoid being chipped to death by the metronomic Scots penalty machine?

Nah, you won't get the ball, Notch. Here's how it goes - Scotland kick off, Cullen takes a clean catch, Rennie pilfers, Lawson releases Schlong down the blindside who scores in the corner - do over, ad nauseam!! Am going to get bored watching this try fest. Fortunately sometimes the restart will go to Dinny and he'll knock on, so we'll get a chance to pulverise your scrummage, which will then be a penalty beautifully slotted by Mossy!!! Boom!

Disappointed with the side..... would have liked Denton to start and Rory at FB, Schlong on the wing!!, he certainly is faster than some posters are suggesting I would have dabbled him at 12, also now is the time for Jackson to reveal his doubtless ability and potential.

Amazed at some of the comments on Walker he has had a good season with the Ospreys competing with the likes of Shane Williams and Tommy Bowe, it was only in 2010 against Samoa that he was MOM for us, and scored in the 6Ns against Italy. He deserves a shout

Taking all that into account, I think that AR will have installed a belief that we can take this match and scote tries ................ Scotland to win by 7+

Difficult to be too confident with Scotland's inconsistency and especially after a bit of a break. Weather forecast is for it to be wet too which may hinder a running game but here goes.

Although without several starters up front, I still don't see any line of the scrum where we should be at a disadvantage, ask yourself a question which Irish forward would you want to take and put into our side. They will win some ball though and should be highly motivated.

In the backs they are certainly stronger (some would definitely make our final squad) but even here I'd expect to match them, we may not be the most gifted team around but we've defended well against most including SA and Australia. Last time out we even scored a couple of tries and made a number of line breaks.

So if the rain has stopped and there's decent footing I would hope for a 3 score victory (less than 2 and I would be concerned). If the weather is bad then I'd expect the ball to stay in the forwards and we'd win by 5-12 but never really be threatened. If they do better than that then we are not on course for a good RWC.

It's not in our nature to be particularly arrogant (thank goodness) but let's not be so cautious we lose ambition. If this was their's and our's first choice 22, I'd still expect to have a decent chance, we have about 8 first choice starters, they have much fewer. They demand respect and will not make it easy, but our guys should show some confidence and be able to control this game.

+1

AsLongAsBut100ofUs wrote:Nah, you won't get the ball, Notch. Here's how it goes - Scotland kick off, Cullen takes a clean catch, Rennie pilfers, Lawson releases Schlong down the blindside who scores in the corner - do over, ad nauseam!! Am going to get bored watching this try fest. Fortunately sometimes the restart will go to Dinny and he'll knock on, so we'll get a chance to pulverise your scrummage, which will then be a penalty beautifully slotted by Mossy!!! Boom!

As, I'm not going to lie to you. Every time Scotland attempt a backs move it makes Baby Jesus cry

That's cos he has a Scottish gran but we rejected him in favour of Nikki 'Jeebus' Walker, so now he supports Wales

IRELAND 23 SCOTLAND 11.
Remember you heard it here first. I did tell everyone on Monday that Cronin would start with Flannery on the bench, but who would listen?

Over and out, gone to pack a bag. You too Asbo. Get some rest, cos you are going to need it!

Am getting in some last minute training, plenty of time yet to be packing! Rest is for amateurs like hughbert.

What sort of training?
Bull-shoiteing!

Flyhalf - think with Denton AR wants to introduce him in this game and if he continues to look good to start him with Brown and Barclay against Italy. He doesn't need to see Beattie with them, he just needs to know Beattie is match fit. If Denton doesn't do well then he may give Vernon or Harley (Brown to 8) a chance. I'm just glad Rennie and Strokosch have an opportunity, think Rennie has a great chance of making the final squad.

This was also the ideal match to go with Cuthbert or RL. Saw some Toulon gamesa few months ago and RL looked excellent, much better than I remembered. Prefer him at FB to wing.

Boston Exile

I am with you 100% Rory has looked very good towards the end of the season and deffo FB is the position for him, we know Mossy will never let us down and I suppose we have to have him there if Parks doesn't play as Jacksons kicking doesn't instill me with confidence.

Rennie on his day is as good as they come, since 2008 come off the bench a fair few times and never let us down, coming back from bad injuries which certainly has held him up otherwise he might have been a shoe-in before now. I think he will suprise alot of folks on Saturday

The key to our performance will be how well our halfbacks gel and play, Jackson has look how Sexton has suddenly come to the fore for Ireland, he knows he can play as well as him and now he must come of age

Flyhalf - I rewatched the Italy game a couple of evenings ago. Italy were flying high after their French and Irish performances but at no time (even when we fell behind) did we not look in control, a lot of that was down to Jackson. He is an inconsistent kicker (especially place kicker) but he can hit the ball well, Townsend was often like that as was John Rutherford. In his early days JR's kicking could be really wayward, then he worked on it assiduously about 1980/81 and it turned into a real strength - does he still hold the drop goal record?

The short of it is Jackson's performance gave me a lot of confidence, I think he can run a game and be a high quality flyhalf - hope Cusiter is available but he did fine with Lawson.

Not sure what AR is thinking with regard to RL. He may play him at FB in one of the first 2 games if he uses Parks (assuming Parks is selected) but that won't translate into a running game - catch 22.

I'm going for a narrow Irish win here, and by my count that makes it soemthing lke 14 predicting a Scottish win, 5 for an Irish win and 1 fencewalker.

i'm hoping people will be surprised by Ireland's much maligned strength in depth, so Saturday will be an interesting test of that....

I expect Scotland to win by about 5 points.

Although despite what some posters have said, I'm still wary of the Irish, especially the backs. Plus I never like when we go into a match against a top 10 side as favourites. Case in point Wales in this years 6 nations :/

In terms of the match I expect our pack to get on top, and strangle the talented Irish backs (No comments about Nathan Hines and Ronan O'Gara please...) of possession.

When it comes to the backs, Ireland look pretty exciting, so I'm hoping our big runners like SLAMONT, Walker and Morrison can burst through.

Anyhow can't wait till Saturday, I've been suffering from severe withdrawal symptoms since the 6 nations

Think to take the irish lightly at all invites doooooom

However I have to be confident and if we want to be getting through in the World cup, we have to take the close matches and make them our own

COME ON SCOTLAND