{"id":336596,"date":"2026-03-09T08:07:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T08:07:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/336596\/"},"modified":"2026-03-09T08:07:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T08:07:10","slug":"its-huge-ireland-and-scotland-to-fight-for-triple-crown-maybe-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/336596\/","title":{"rendered":"‘It\u2019s huge’ – Ireland and Scotland to fight for Triple Crown, maybe more"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n Murray Kinsella<\/p>\n

ANDY FARRELL WAS hardly going to talk Scotland down on Friday night, but his words of respect for Gregor Townsend\u2019s men were proven right the following day.<\/p>\n

The Ireland boss had said it was \u201ca luxury\u201d for his men to get a night\u2019s sleep before sitting down to scout Scotland against the French, although it probably wasn\u2019t a premium experience as they watched the Scots deliver one of their best-ever wins.<\/p>\n

Scotland\u2019s seven-try victory showed exactly why Farrell rates Scotland despite Ireland being on an 11-game winning run against them.<\/p>\n

\u201cI say it every year, I think they\u2019re a great side,\u201d said Farrell on Friday night.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think they\u2019re a talented side. They\u2019re well coached. They\u2019ve had some big wins. I don\u2019t know how it\u2019s going to go tomorrow, but they\u2019ve put it up to France time and time again before, which shows the character that\u2019s in them.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re expecting a massive game next week and the record doesn\u2019t come into it because it\u2019s a proper Test match and a good week to get excited.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both teams go into Super Saturday with a chance of winning the Six Nations, with the Scots level with France on 16 match points, albeit trailing on points difference, while Ireland are on 14 match points.<\/p>\n

France are still in control and they will know exactly what they need to do in the last game of the championship at home to England on Saturday night in Paris.<\/p>\n

Whatever about the destiny of the overall title, Ireland and Scotland are in a shootout for the Triple Crown. Farrell\u2019s men are fighting to retain that trophy, while the Scots want to win it for the first time since 1990.<\/p>\n

\"scotlands-ben-white-right-speaks-with-frances-antoine-dupont-left-after-his-side-scored-their-fifth-try-during-the-guinness-mens-six-nations-match-at-scottish-gas-murrayfield-stadium-edinburgh\"
\n Scotland’s Ben White gets in Antoine Dupont’s face after a Scottish try. Alamy Stock Photo<\/p>\n

Alamy Stock Photo\n<\/p>\n

Even if it\u2019s not quite a Six Nations decider, this game has a real cup final feel and Farrell believes the pressure occasion will be good for Ireland ahead of next year\u2019s World Cup.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou should never underestimate it, to be able to go for the Triple Crown,\u201d said Farrell.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s huge and it means a lot to us, it certainly does. It\u2019s also going to mean a lot to them as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s coming down the line in the next 18 months, to get to the last week and there\u2019s a Triple Crown on the line, it\u2019s going to be the type of pressure that we want to be able to deal with.\u201d<\/p>\n

As ever, Farrell has a couple of interesting selection decisions to confirm when Ireland announce their matchday 23 on Thursday afternoon.<\/p>\n

The Ireland boss was delighted<\/a> with Tom O\u2019Toole\u2019s first-ever Test start at loosehead against Wales, although he didn\u2019t rule Jeremy Loughman out of a return after he missed the game due to a calf injury.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re still trying to give him a few days to see,\u201d said Farrell on Friday. \u201cWe\u2019ll come back in on Sunday morning, so we\u2019ll know more then.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hooker Dan Sheehan was rested on Friday, although he completed the warm-up with Farrell\u2019s team. He may come straight back in at hooker despite R\u00f3nan Kelleher\u2019s strong performance in the number two shirt.<\/p>\n

Tadhg Furlong was strong in contact against the Welsh and despite conceding a scrum free-kick and a scrum penalty in the second half, he\u2019s likely to go again at tighthead prop.<\/p>\n

\"nathan-doak-and-jamison-gibson-park-celebrate-their-1st-and-50th-cap-after-the-match\"
\n Nathan Doak and Jamison Gibson-Park with their respective first and 50th caps. \u00a9INPHO<\/p>\n

\u00a9INPHO\n<\/p>\n

Joe McCarthy made a big impact off the bench and there\u2019s a strong case for restoring him to the starting second row, which might mean Tadhg Beirne reverting to blindside flanker. Josh van der Flier also impressed as a replacement and could come straight back in at openside in place of Nick Timoney.<\/p>\n

However, that would mean Jack Conan being squeezed out of the starting XV after his player-of-the-match performance at blindside flanker against the Welsh. His punch in contact was important for Ireland, although he is also a brilliant bench impact player.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jamison Gibson-Park and Jack Crowley are likely to continue as the halfbacks and they\u2019ll be keen to manage the game more astutely after Ireland overplayed at times against Wales. They both had plenty of moments of class too.<\/p>\n

The centre pairing of Stuart McCloskey and Garry Ringrose shone on Friday night, while right wing Robert Baloucoune and fullback Jamie Osborne look sure to continue in the starting XV.<\/p>\n

Jacob Stockdale did well on the left wing upon his return, taking his early try powerfully and providing a smart assist for Osborne\u2019s second-half score, as well as beating a game-leading six defenders.<\/p>\n

So Farrell must consider again whether to stick with Stockdale \u2013 who would have been second in his left wing depth chart behind James Lowe \u2013 or give Tommy O\u2019Brien another chance in the position where he did so well off the bench in Twickenham, despite usually playing on the right.<\/p>\n

Happily for Farrell, he has a few good options for his bench, whether he goes with a 5\/3 split again or reverts to the 6\/2 Ireland used in the opening two games of the Six Nations.<\/p>\n

Nathan Doak did well on his debut off the bench against the Welsh, but Craig Casey is far more experienced, while the combative Bundee Aki will be pushing hard for inclusion as one of the backline replacements given his power and big-game history.<\/p>\n

This should be a fun week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Murray Kinsella ANDY FARRELL WAS hardly going to talk Scotland down on Friday night, but his words of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":336597,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[25747,32795,61,60,43,9036,21079,15551],"class_list":["post-336596","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-andy-farrell","tag-finale","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news","tag-scotland","tag-selection","tag-six-nations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336596","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=336596"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336596\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/336597"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=336596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=336596"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=336596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}