6N 2019: Scotland v Ireland, 9 February

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SCOTLAND v IRELAND 
9 February 2019
KO: 14:15
BT Murrayfield, Edinburgh

Referee: Romain Poite (France)
Touch judges: Pascal Gaüzère (France) and Alexandre Ruiz (France)
Television match official: Rowan Kitt (England)

Live on [paddy TV and jock TV]

A. Head to Head

134 Played 134
67 Won 62
6 Drawn 6
62 Lost 67
1,415 Points 1,525

B. Recent Form

10 March 2018
Aviva Stadium, Dublin
28–8 to Ireland

4 February 2017
Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh
27–22 to Scotland

19 March 2016
Aviva Stadium, Dublin
35 – 25 to Ireland

15 August 2015
Aviva Stadium, Dublin
28 – 22 to Ireland

21 March 2015
BT Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh
10 – 40 to Ireland

2 February 2014
Aviva Stadium, Dublin
28 – 6 to Ireland

24 February 2013
Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh
12 – 8 to Scotland

10 March 2012
Aviva Stadium, Dublin
32 – 14 to Ireland

6 August 2011
Murrayfield, Edinburgh
10 – 6 to Scotland

27 February 2011
Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh
18 – 21 to Ireland

20 March 2010
Croke Park, Dublin
20 – 23 to Scotland

C. Teams

SCOTLAND


[TBC]

IRELAND 


[TBC]

In fairness to Francis we are much worse than he thinks, we only scored 33 points

BigGee wrote:

RDW wrote:https://www.itv.com/six-nations/townsend-dropping-kinghorn-a-tough-decision

About as tough as it gets you would imagine. Hard to see how he would have weakened the team if he had played.

He's only 22 - his chance will come. Not that he'd get much comfort from that! As long as he doesn't mope in training this week.

Tell you what though - pressure on our wingers to perform!

Relived to see Maitland rather than Kinghorn, maybe Townsend feels he's more secure in defense and under the high ball?

Ireland with a few players out and perhaps weaker than they were.  Apart from Nel Scotland no weaker.  Can I be a little less pessimistic?

Shame to lose Nel, but a fairly straightforward team selection given injuries and performances last week.

Pity Kearney is back for Henshaw at 15!

Scotland, know your place!!

Collapse2005 wrote:Scotland, know your place!!

Oh we do - top of the table I believe

TJ wrote:Ireland with a few players out and perhaps weaker than they were.  Apart from Nel Scotland no weaker.  Can I be a little less pessimistic?

Tighthead aside you could say we were actually stronger - definitely much more impact off the bench.

TJ wrote:

Collapse2005 wrote:Scotland, know your place!!

Oh we do - top of the table I believe

Ha

Ireland need to realise they are going to fortress Murrayfield.

majesticimperialman wrote:Ireland need to realise they are going to fortress Murrayfield.

Yep, Top of the table. Won three of the last four vs Ireland at Murrayfield

Easy win.

Yeah but only 2 of the last 4 six nations games at murrayfield. Ah ha, busted.

Well the conditions on sat are going to be great, 45mph winds and pissing down.  Not sure that'll suit either team, certainly is going to make life harder for Scotland.

https://theoffsideline.com/scotland-ireland-10-questions-for-gregor-townsend-on-his-team-selection/

Good interview with Townsend explaining his decisions in more detail.

I'm very comfortable with Sean starting, he is one of the most consistent players in our team and very rarely makes any mistakes - his form for Sarries has been excellent as well. Kinghorn played well, but two of his tries were near run-ins and he did fluff that 2v1 - I don't think there was any doubt in Toonie's mind who would start this game.

If the weather was looking dry, then I would have this game as 55/45 to Ireland, as it is now i think that probably goes up to 60/40, due to the probable scrum dominance. In the backs, if we can get enough front foot ball there is no doubt that we will cause those Irish backs problems - we have more pace in virtually every position and three playmakers to try and manipulate a new centre partnership. I'm heading up for this one, can't wait.

Stong winds from the south all day which means the wind will be at your back or in your face (though it can swirl a bit in Murrayfield)

Both teams I can see kicking it long when they have the wind to peg the other team back. I pity the fool that has to go trying to collect high balls as in the forecasted wind, the ball could move about to a ridiculous extent.

Unfortunately I see the wind being a better advantage to Ireland who play a better stuctured game where as we're a bit more, erm, frantic!

Where are people getting the "heavy rain" forecasts from? The ones I've looked at (Google and BBC) both have it dry in the afternoon, albeit with heavy winds, and Toonie just says "very windy on Saturday" (though heavy rain for the run on Friday).

Worth mentioning that Scotland's kicking game was largely very good against Italy. They kick very differently to Ireland: Scotland will generally make a couple of passes out of a ruck to see if anything's on before kicking, whereas Ireland kick from 9 or 10 nearly all the time. I'm a bit apprehensive about our ability to play into a howling wind against a strong Irish pack though, but if Ireland's kicking game is a bit loose (wishful thinking) we certainly have the players to take advantage.

I see that Pearce has apparently apologised to Hogg for chalking off his "try", and admitted he made a mistake. At the time I thought it looked a very harsh call, nowhere for Price to go (he certainly doesn't change his line towards the defender), and the defender isn't making the tackle anyway. Having said that, I thought on one of Hogg's earlier breaks there was a bit of off-the-ball shepherding going on, so swings and roundabouts.

Yup, it's not forecast to rain, I think folk here just assume its going to rain as we live in Scotland where is normally rains.

It;s supposed to be winds with the occasional shower today and then tomorrow is windy with maybe a shower in the morning but dry in the afternoon.

Storm Erik - Bluff and bluster but nae rain

So it's currently a fairly comfortable whitewash for Ireland with them winning the Women's game, u20s and Club (albeit on aggregate, they drew tonight). But one has to take into account that they were playing purely Scottish teams, only 8 of our players tomorrow were actually born in Scotland so it's a completely different kettle of fish.

Arbroath Smokies?

Morning gents, can’t see past a decent Irish win here. Hoping for a classic.

I think this game is going to be extremely close.
Our reshuffle in the back row will make us a bit more dynamic, with SOBs power and Conan's pace, but your backline scare the bejesus out of me.
If we kick poorly your back 3 I can cut us apart.

Good luck all

Bit late to the party but finally got round to watching the Italy game on TV.  Looking to today I hope we keep the same quality of kicking game and kick chase - it was superb with Russell and Hogg really pinning Italy beck. For all of Ireland's strengths they don't have many game breakers who are going to create something out of nothing from inside their own 22m. The more we keep them in their half the better.

Huw Jones copped a bit of criticism but I don't think he was too bad - certainly not a vintage performance and he looked short of match sharpness but it's not like he was bad.

I'm worried about stopping Ireland's physicality and them getting momentum over the gainline - apparently we only made 6 dominant tackles against Italy and that's got to significantly improve. The midfield battle will be key - Ireland's centres are hugely physical and ours are not overly.

Ireland should win this - and I fear we're going to see a vintage Irish performance that blows us away - but as always we stand a chance!

If you go back to last weeks game England v Ireland, it was shaun Cronin who broke the English line for the last try for Ireland. So my point is why not start him as hooker and bring in Rory Best from the subs bench?

because Cronins strengths are most effective in the last quarter of games whereas Best as captain works well at the earlier part.

Well the Irish excuses are gone - the bus arrived on time!

Looks sunny in Edinburgh

Why am I edging towards a Scotland win.

They'll need to be right at the top of their game as I think Ireland will be punching walls for this one...but I think they could do it.

I make Scotland narrow favourites. Should be an excellent tactical battle this afternoon.

It’s blowing old boots up there but at least there’s no rain...!

GeordieFalcon wrote:Why am I edging towards a Scotland win.

They'll need to be right at the top of their game as I think Ireland will be punching walls for this one...but I think they could do it.

Last year saw the previous champions lose the plot I guess we think there’s a trend there..!

The Great Aukster wrote:Arbroath Smokies?

Oooh now that's a great brekkie!! With hot buttered toast.

Good start Scotland

Random music after scoring points there. A bit of house music or something!

Bad error there!!

Well that's annoying - Ireland weren't getting anywhere

Daft pass under pressure ...

Would like to see the hogg block and potential accidental offside again...

Oops.

Jesus that was honking. Maitland shouldn't have been that close but that was an awful pass.

Murray not going under posts when there was no pressure. Earls was screaming at him. 2 points unnecessary thrown away

Shocking kick

Tommy Seymour. Oh dear. Kinghorn on the bench eh!

RDW wrote:Would like to see the hogg block and potential accidental offside again...

Yep a replay would have been nice ...

tigertattie wrote:Tommy Seymour. Oh dear. Kinghorn on the bench eh!

Dougie Fife for Scotland.

Hogg not looking happy

Scotland have totally dropped off

Ireland haven’t looked good, I’m wondering how they’ve scored twice. Both scorers in my fantasy team though....

Needed a card - both times when we got near the line they killed the ball

On the plus side this game is major points for my fantasy team.

Negatively, Ireland are really getting in the way of our Grand Slam. If you can stop now that would be appreciated.