Scotland boss Gregor Townsend is looking to bring the \u201cphysicality\u201d to Ireland in their final match of the 2026 Six Nations, as they look to take home the trophy for the first time in their history.<\/p>\n
Scotland are famously the last team to have won the Five Nations, but since Italy have been included in the championship, the men in dark blue have struggled against their rival nations.<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s crop are currently three games unbeaten, and sit level on points with France in first place. If Scotland beat Ireland on Saturday, then they will give themselves a very real opportunity to finish top of the championship, but only if England are able to do a job in Paris.<\/p>\n
Focusing on their upcoming opponents, Townsend<\/a> said: \u201cThey were great against England, and they\u2019ve won three in a row, so they\u2019ll be full of confidence. They\u2019ve got some outstanding individuals who started for the Lions.\u201d<\/p>\n Want more from Planet Rugby? Add us as\u00a0a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a>\u00a0for world-class coverage you can trust.<\/p>\n Scotland have not beaten Ireland since 2017, having lost 11 matches since, including two World Cup pool stage defeats. So a result, Townsend knows the challenge that his side faces.<\/p>\n \u201cThey seem to raise their game against us. I know sometimes we\u2019ve not played as well, but they definitely played some of their best rugby against us,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cTwo years ago, we delivered a real physical performance, and we were in the game for most of it, and we did have a chance at the end, but they were deserving winners. <\/p>\n \u201cBut that\u2019s the physicality we\u2019ll need. We\u2019ll need a huge effort. I think you will see next week that there\u2019s going to be some fatigue. You play five Test matches in six weeks, the game will open up. So let\u2019s hope it does open up. <\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s been a great championship so far, and I think that we feel that suits our game. But if it\u2019s a tight game, we\u2019ll have to make sure our defence and what our forwards are doing is at the top level.\u201d<\/p>\n Scotland<\/a> showed just how dangerous they can be in their victory over France at the weekend, putting 50 points on the previously dominant visitors.<\/p>\n Louis Lynagh on \u2018key moment\u2019 two years ago that led to toppling England and \u2018creating history\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n Injury update<\/p>\n Townsend has effectively ruled out second\/back-row Gregor Brown from the upcoming match after struggling with a hamstring issue, but the Scotland boss remains positive about Jack Dempsey and Kyle Steyn.<\/p>\n \u201cKyle Steyn<\/a> told me he\u2019s fine. So, I hope he\u2019s right, because he\u2019s on a pretty good run of form. <\/p>\n \u201cHe was amazing today again, and the best thing he did, it involved his injury. That hassle back to try and stop a French try, whether there was one or two, forward passes in there, we don\u2019t know, but that effort for your teammate. Obviously, we were well ahead on the scoreboard, but that was great to see. He\u2019s got a deep cut. So let\u2019s hope it heals.<\/p>\n \u201cI want to mention Jack Dempsey, who not only got himself back to playing this game, a really big game for us, but was outstanding, probably had his best game of the tournament, and doing that with not 100% was great to see, but I think he\u2019ll be fine. Today would give him a lot of confidence that he can play a physical game and play 80 minutes.<\/p>\n \u201cI think the other two might be tougher ones. I think Gregor Brown\u2019s<\/a> hamstring issue, so I would think he wouldn\u2019t turn that round and Scott Cummings\u2019 calf.<\/p>\n \u201cSometimes these can be neural, and what they feel is a torn calf or a torn hamstring, might not be what we fear, but it looks like certainly Gregor will be out, and we\u2019ll see about Scott over the next few days.\u201d<\/p>\n