Ireland team vs. Scotland: Andy Farrell makes statement with XV for Six Nations decider

The Grand Slam is gone but a fourth title in six years is still up for grabs.

Farrell confirmed his Ireland team selection on Thursday ahead of the Saturday afternoon, March 16 (4:45pm kick-off) match at Aviva Stadium. Ireland are four points clear of England, their nearest title challengers while France and Scotland are in the long, long-shot category.

IRELAND TEAM

Replacements: Rónan Kelleher, Cian Healy, Finlay Bealham, Ryan Baird, Jack Conan, Conor Murray, Harry Byrne, Garry Ringrose.

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Andy Farrell backs his Ireland team to finish on a high

Following the last-gasp loss to England, at Twickenham, Andy Farrell was asked how his Ireland team would bounce back. When one reporter suggested the finale, on 'Super Saturday', could be an anti-climax, the Ireland coach replied:

“Anti-climax? How many times have we won the Six Nations?

“Everyone would love to be in our position. We’ve got to make sure we’re loving that challenge as well.

“I’ve absolutely no doubt that they (Ireland supporters) 100% will be on song. Paddy’s weekend again, with the chance of winning a Six Nations. It could have been a little bit better but Grand Slams are unbelievably hard to come by. Six Nations are hard enough, as everyone would vouch for.”

The big injury concerns centre around Calvin Nash and Ciáran Frawley, who both picked up concussive knocks against England. James Ryan (bicep injury) was ruled out of the remainder of the championship, days out from that defeat to Steve Borthwick's side.

"No, it's the best thing since sliced bread when it goes well for you, isn't it?" I mean, yeah, it's just rugby, isn't it? You go with a 5:3 bench and you can run out of backs very quickly, depending on what you've got cover-wise. It's not a factor for me, I mean it's just the game.

"Sometimes you can be unlucky. I mean Calvin coming out and hitting the guy, they scored the try on the back of that and then 'Frawls' comes on for him and, again, he was under the weather for the other try. It was costly enough periods, but it's not the reason why we lost the game."

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