What they said

Head Coach Gregor Townsend said: “We’ve had an extra day’s preparation, which allows us to connect more and focus on what we need to do.

“We will be challenged in our defence and challenged in our attack, but we are looking forward to that challenge.

“You want to go up against the best teams in the world. You want to improve as well from what you’ve done in the last game and that’s what we have been working on this week.”

The teams

Stats

• Three of Scotland’s four victories against Ireland in the Guinness Six Nations have come at BT Murrayfield.
• Scotland have won three of their last four home games in the Guinness Six Nations, including a record win over Wales in their most recent game at BT Murrayfield (35-7 in Round 2).
• Scotland have the highest tackle success rate of any side in this year’s Guinness Six Nations having missed the fewest tackles of any side (55), while they’ve also conceded a Championship low 10 line breaks this campaign.
• Scotland’s Finn Russell has made the most carries (45), offloads (6) and assisted the most tries (4) of any player in the Guinness Six Nations this year, while teammate Duhan van der Merwe has beaten the most defenders (21).