Preview: Ireland v Scotland, Autumn Nations Cup

2 Dec 2020

The Final weekend of the Autumn Nations Cup is approaching, with Ireland and Scotland contesting the 3rd/4th place play-off at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin on Saturday afternoon.

The fixture kicks off at
2.15pm and you can watch live on Amazon Prime Video. You can also join us here
on scottishrugby.org for match build-up and updates in the Live Match Centre.

Scotland’s form

Scotland’s campaign-opening
win over Italy in Florence extended the national team’s run to five consecutive
Test victories, a sequence which began against Italy in February. France
secured a narrow victory at BT Murrayfield the following week and the Scotland
v Fiji third round fixture was cancelled.Scotland were subsequently awarded a 28-0 bonus-point win, which saw them
finish second in Group B.

Ireland’s form

Ireland are also ranked second
within their group which features Wales, England and Georgia. Ireland have won
both home fixtures, 32-9 Wales and 23-10 Georgia but suffered defeat in the
second round against England, 18-7, at Twickenham.

Team announcement

Head Coach Gregor Townsend
will name his team for the Ireland fixture on Thursday lunchtime. Check back
here at scottishrugby.org and on Facebook, Twitter on Instagram to see who has
been selected in the match day 23.

Pre-match stats

Scotland have won their last three away games in a row (Italy, Wales & Italy), they’ve not enjoyed a longer such run since a five-game streak between 1925 and 1927

Scotland and Ireland are the only two sides with a 100% goal kicking record in the 2020 Autumn Nations Cup, Ireland landing 14/14 and Scotland 9/9.

Ireland have won eight of their last nine matches against Scotland, a 22-27 defeat at BT Murrayfield in 2017 the only exception in this run

Scotland’s Duhan van der Merwe has gained more metres (186) than any other player in the 2020 Autumn Nations Cup, he has also beaten more defenders (12) than anyone else.

Scotland are on a run of 12 games without receiving a yellow card, a run which started at the beginning of the 2019 Rugby World Cup, it is the longest active run of any Tier 1 side and their best ever run since they were introduced in 2000.