Ireland and Scotland will get the 2017 Six Nations underway in what is likely to be a tightly contested contest in Murrayfield.
In recent years, an Irish win against their Celtic neighbours was seen as no more than a formality. However, with Scotland boasting a number of in-form players, in addition to their impressive performances during the November internationals, this match is expected to be decided by the finest of margins.
Here we take a look at some of the key battles which will take place on the pitch, the outcome of which will go a long way in determining what side will emerge from the 80 minutes with their first win under their belt.
Midfield Battle
Robbie Henshaw and Garry Ringrose will continue their provincial partnership and finally get to showcase their skill together on the international stage. Although they haven’t played together for Ireland before, many expect this to be an easy transition.
Their ability to read each other’s game, especially when it comes to offloading to one another, has been a key feature of their attacking play for Leinster. This could prove crucial in terms of whether either player will get on the score sheet.
The Leinster duo will come up against Alex Dunbar and Huw Jones. The pair played together in Scotland’s November internationals against Australia and Scotland. Jones made an incredible impression in the match against the Wallabies, scoring two tries and showing excellent footwork and pace.
With Jones only returning from injury it will be interesting to see whether he can have the same effect.
Nevertheless, it will be an intriguing battle. As Jones and his opposite number, Ringrose, possess such great attacking skills, either one of these men could first be on the score sheet in Murrayfield.
First Try Scorer:
- Huw Jones – 14/1
- Garry Ringrose – 20/1
Set Piece Dominance
There is no doubt about it, much of Ireland’s game is reliant on securing a dominant set piece. We saw with Ireland’s line-out dominance against the All Blacks in Chicago just how successful it was as an attacking platform.
The ever-reliable Devin Toner and Iain Henderson will be tasked with securing clean lineout ball for Ireland but they come up against the disruptive sibling duo of Johnny Gray and Richie Gray.
The brothers can be a nuisance for opposition sides and Ireland will have their work cut out if they want to gain the same level of success in the lineout as they did in Chicago.
Nevertheless, it has been no secret that these two would start for Scotland, so you can expect Joe Schmidt to have a plan in place to deal with the brothers.
Ireland’s ensuing maul in the opposition 22 will be a key source of scores, as a result you could expect one of the Irish back-row players in CJ Stander, Sean O’Brien or Jamie Heaslip to either peel off the back of a maul or volunteer as a one-off runner to secure the game’s first try.
Shirt Number – Ireland’s first try
- 8/7/6 – 3/1
The breakdown
Much of Ireland’s game revolves around securing quick ball and there are not too many better trios for that task than the Irish back-row of CJ Stander, Sean O’Brien and Jamie Heaslip.
These three will be up against Ryan Wilson, Hamish Watson and Josh Strauss.
Ireland should get the better of the Scottish trio at ruck-time and with clean, quick ball secured for the influential Conor Murray, expect Ireland to have the perfect opportunity to execute a number of pre-rehearsed moves in the hope of unlocking the Scottish defence.
With this in mind, Ireland should beat Scotland in Murrayfield but the margin of that win could be lower than some of the more optimistic predictions – mostly due to the absence of Johnny Sexton.
- Ireland – 4/9
- Scotland – 2/1
- Draw – 20/1
