Townsend plays down talk of historic first Six Nations title for Scotland

Gregor Townsend refused to indulge in talk of a first Six Nations title for Scotland as he outlined the scale of the task still facing his side in their quest to make history.

The Scots go into Super Saturday as one of three teams in the mix for the championship, alongside table-topping France and opponents Ireland. In short, Scotland must collect more match points in Dublin in the first game of the day than Les Bleus manage against England in the late kick-off in Paris. If both lose, Ireland could also win the title.

Asked if he had allowed himself to ponder leading the Scots to a first title of the Six Nations era, head coach Townsend said: “No. It’s out of our hands really. We can only do a certain amount. It’s a game for us to play against an opponent that’s had the upper hand on us for years.

“We’re playing them away from home. They’ve got a brilliant record at home. It’s a challenge but a real opportunity for us to go and deliver an even better performance than we did last week. It would be great to finish the championship with a win and finish on a high. That will obviously carry on the momentum and if that means we win the game, we obviously know there’s something at stake.”

The Scotland squad flew out to Ireland on Thursday afternoon buoyed by a run of three consecutive victories against England, Wales and France, with their 50-40 triumph over Les Bleus last Saturday particularly inspiring.

“That performance was close to the best that we’ve seen from this group and from probably any Scotland team,” said Townsend. “It’ll be a different game than last week so you’ve got to adapt, stick together for that 80 minutes and give it everything because it’s going to be your last opportunity in this year’s Six Nations and last opportunity as a team for a few months.”

Scotland have lost their past 11 meetings with Ireland, with their last win in the fixture coming nine years ago. A victory this weekend would secure a first Triple Crown for the Scots since 1990. Injuries have forced Townsend into selecting a new second row, with Max Williamson and Grant Gilchrist replacing Gregor Brown and Scott Cummings, while Zander Fagerson starts at tighthead prop, having been a replacement against France.

“Ireland seem to play very well against us so that’s what we’re expecting,” Townsend said. “Their performance against England was one of the standout performances of this year’s championship and if they deliver that, which we’re expecting them to do, we’re going to have to be very, very good to win.”

Andy Farrell has made four changes to his Ireland starting XV with hooker Dan Sheehan, lock Joe McCarthy and openside flanker Josh van der Flier returning to the forward pack. Ronan Kelleher and Nick Timoney drop to the bench and James Ryan is ruled out by a calf injury.

Tommy O’Brien is preferred to Jacob Stockdale on the left wing in the sole alteration among the backs after last Friday’s 27-17 bonus-point win over Wales. Centre Bundee Aki, who was suspended for the opening three rounds, is a replacement and poised to make his first appearance of the tournament.

In Cardiff on Saturday, Wales will be looking to avoid a third consecutive Six Nations whitewash when they host Italy. Italy were the last team to lose a Six Nations game to Wales on 11 March 2023 and supporters are desperate to see their worst-ever run in the tournament ended.

However, when asked at his pre-match press conference if performance or result was more important, head coach Steve Tandy said: “I think performance. If we get the performance, the result will follow. I want both, if I’m honest, but I think the performance will get us closer.

“We can’t control the outcome. You see in games the bounce of the ball might not always go your way, but what we have to be is consistent. You can get a win but actually are you still growing? They should go hand in hand. We want to produce a performance that replicates what we did over the last few weeks but also makes it better.”