2021 Six Nations Championship – Scotland vs Ireland Preview & Prediction
THE FACTS
When is Scotland vs Ireland taking place? Sunday 14th March, 2021 – 15:00
Where is Scotland vs Ireland taking place? Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh
Where can I get tickets for Scotland vs Ireland? Visit this link for ticket information
What channel is Scotland vs Ireland on? BBC
Where can I stream Scotland vs Ireland? Scotland vs Ireland can be streamed via BBC iPlayer
THE TEAM NEWS
SCOTLAND
- Scotland had their third Six Nations fixture postponed after a mass covid-19 outbreak developed in the France squad throughout late February and they are currently fifth with that game in-hand.
- Head coach Gregor Townsend will know the state of play for his side a lot better after Saturday’s games, with Scotland likely still in with the slightest of chances at a title if they can bonus-point win the remainder of their games.
- Townsend makes four changes to the starting XV ahead of this important clash with WP Nel and Sam Johnson coming in alongside the returning Sean Maitland and Jamie Ritchie.
Scotland: 15 Stuart Hogg (c), 14 Sean Maitland, 13 Chris Harris, 12 Sam Johnson, 11 Duhan van der Merwe, 10 Finn Russell, 9 Ali Price, 8 Matt Fagerson, 7 Hamish Watson, 6 Jamie Ritchie, 5 Jonny Gray, 4 Scott Cummings, 3 WP Nel, 2 George Turner, 1 Rory Sutherland
Replacements: 16 David Cherry, 17 Jamie Bhatti, 18 Simon Berghan, 19 Grant Gilchrist, 20 Nick Haining, 21 Scott Steele, 22 Huw Jones, 23 Darcy Graham
IRELAND
- Ireland grabbed their first win of the 2021 Six Nations Championship in a 10-48 rout at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome last time out but a win there for Wales the day before this clash with Scotland will end their slim title hopes for another season.
- Under-fire head coach Andy Farrell can welcome back a key player in Jacob Stockdale to the Irish squad for the first time this campaign after the winger returned from injury to play for domestic side Ulster last weekend.
- Jamison Gibson-Park is again picked ahead of Conor Murray to start at scrum-half while Keith Earls, Cian Healy and Rob Herring come in to start.
Ireland: 15 Hugo Keenan, 14 Keith Earls, 13 Garry Ringrose, 12 Robbie Henshaw, 11 James Lowe, 10 Jonathan Sexton, 9 Jamison Gibson-Park, 8 CJ Stander, 7 Will Connors, 6 Tadhg Beirne, 5 James Ryan, 4 Iain Henderson, 3 Tadhg Furlong, 2 Rob Herring, 1 Cian Healy
Replacements: 16 Ronan Kelleher, 17 Dave Kilcoyne, 18 Andrew Porter, 19 Ryan Baird, 20 Jack Conan, 21 Conor Murray, 22 Billy Burns, 23 Jordan Larmour
THE PREDICTION
The winner of this match will likely have a small part left to play in the 2021 Six Nations title race as the dark horse and the hosts will at least be well-rested after their previous fixture was postponed. Scotland’s opening victory away at England set a precedent for this tournament’s unpredictable set of results and they will be well up for providing another upset here against an Ireland side who have already lost two matches to title-favourites Wales and France. However, Scotland have won this fixture just six times this century and Ireland have won the last four meetings in a row, including two Six Nations ties home and away. With Ireland not at their best and Scotland well capable of fighting to the end this should be an entertaining and tight result. Ireland won the previous two Six Nations meetings by seven and nine points each and so picking them to win by perhaps the odd penalty looks a suitable option here. Take this as Ireland to cover -3 away from home.
