There may be no Grand Slam for Ireland this year, but they will still expect to lift the Six Nations title when Scotland visit Dublin on Saturday, with a win or even a bonus point likely to be enough to secure back-to-back successes.
- Ireland vs Scotland
- 4.45pm, Saturday, March 16th
- Aviva Stadium, Dublin
It may not be the St Patrick’s Day celebration they would have been hoping for, but Ireland will still expect to wrap up the Six Nations on Saturday when they take on Scotland.
Andy Farrell’s side came out on the wrong side of a late Marcus Smith drop goal at Twickenham last week to end hopes of a second successive Grand Slam but they still hold all the cards with a four-point lead heading into the final round.
They boast a very strong record against Scotland too, having not lost to them in any competition since 2017 and unbeaten against them at home since 2010, leading to Gregor Townsend admitting his side need “something special” if they are going to come away with something.
Had Scotland not fallen to a hugely disappointing defeat to Italy last week there it would have set this game up as a potential classic decider, but standing five points back in third place it would be a huge surprise if they could pull this off.
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Ireland vs Scotland Betting Tips
Here are our picks for the meeting at Aviva Stadium.
Ireland -15.5 points and score over 4.5 tries
Despite the defeat last week, we think Ireland will relish the return to home territory against a team they have very good memories of playing against.
The feel-good factor should be enough to carry Ireland to a dominant win against a Scotland side who, while much-improved, have shown they can still be very flaky and susceptible to conceding a lot of points.
Lowe to score and over 6.5 tries in the match
James Lowe has been a force to be reckoned with throughout the tournament, and showed his best at Twickenham last week with two well-taken tries to take his tally to four for the Six Nations.
It’s not just the number of times he has touched down either, Lowe is well clear in the number of metres carried in this year’s tournament (he has carried 22 metres more than anyone else) and with the game likely to be wide open, we think he will have plenty of chances to touch down again.
Scotland and Ireland are the two top-scoring sides in this year’s Six Nations so there should be plenty of entertainment.
Team Lineups
We take a closer look at both teams for Saturday’s likely-decisive game in Dublin.
Ireland
- Porter
- Sheehan
- Furlong
- McCarthy
- Beirne
- O’Mahony (capt)
- Van der Flier
- Doris
- Gibson-Park
- Crowley
- Lowe
- Aki
- Henshaw
- Nash
- Keenan
Scotland
- Schoeman
- Turner
- Z Fagerson
- Gilchrist
- Cummings
- Christie
- Darge
- Dempsey
- White
- Russell (capt)
- Van Der Merwe
- McDowall
- Jones
- Steyn
- Kinghorn
Previous Results
Check out the last five results between Ireland and Scotland in the Six Nations below.
| Year | Result | Venue |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Scotland 7-22 Ireland | Edinburgh |
| 2022 | Ireland 26-5 Scotland | Dublin |
| 2021 | Scotland 24-27 Ireland | Edinburgh |
| 2020 | Ireland 19-12 Scotland | Dublin |
| 2019 | Scotland 13-22 Ireland | Edinburgh |
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