Kick-off: 1500, 12/03/2023
Stadium: Murrayfield
TV: BBC
Scotland could shake-up this year’s Six Nations if beating Ireland on home turf and are backed to at least be competitive at Murrayfield.
The visitors have won seven straight head-to-head meetings but only two were in Edinburgh and both of those were hard-fought affairs.
Gregor Townsend’s side only went down 27-24 here two years ago and appeal at 17/20 with 7.5 points start this time for our first Scotland vs Ireland prediction.
White still eyeing title tilt
Scotland got their campaign off to a flying start when beating England 29-23 at Twickenham, scoring four tries in the process.
That was followed by a 35-7 demolition of Wales at this venue, when crossing the whitewash on five occasions.
The Scots were torn apart early on when facing France in Paris, trailing 19-0 after 20 minutes, but fought back bravely.
In fact, they threatened to pull off a famous comeback when 25-21 down late on, until Gael Fickou touched down with time running out.
Scrum-half Ben White said: “I thought we showed a lot of courage to come back and give ourselves a chance to win at the end.
“I’m really proud of the performance in terms of how we stayed together as a group. I thought we played some really good rugby.
“It’s good to know we had chances to take the game against a side ranked number two in the world. It shows we’re there or thereabouts.”
The 24-year-old added: “We have a lot of belief that we can win the championship. Being back at Murrayfield with our fans behind us is something we’re really excited about.
“The challenge of playing Ireland for the Triple Crown is awesome. We’re a good team and we’re confident in our ability.”
Looking at the Scotland vs Ireland odds, the hosts are a value bet at 6/5 to score the first try.
Ireland must resolve injury issues
Ireland went into this tournament as favourites to top the table and have justified that faith with three wins so far.
A ruthless first-half display helped them to prevail 34-10 in Wales and the men in green were very professional in beating France 32-19 in Dublin.
Missing a host of star names through injury, the world’s top-ranked team were under serious pressure going into the final quarter of a thrilling clash with fearless Italy.
But Andy Farrell’s side regained their composure at a raucous Stadio Olimpico to close out another bonus-point win by triumphing 34-20.
Veteran fly-half Johnny Sexton is among several influential figures expected to return at Murrayfield.
Scrum-half Jamison Gibson-Park, prop Tadhg Furlong and centre Robbie Henshaw are also in the squad following spells in the treatment room.
However, Garry Ringrose, Stuart McCloskey and James Lowe have all had minor issues, while loosehead prop Cian Healy is yet to feature in this year’s championship because of a hamstring problem.
Forwards coach Paul O’Connell believes getting back some proven world-class performers is a big boost, stating: “They’re all very good players.
“They speak very well, they generally have a lot of logic to add whenever we have problems to solve.
“It’s been brilliant to go these three games unbeaten without some of those guys, and for them to come back in now hungry, with a bit of a different voice and a different perspective as well.”
We just feel Ireland could be a touch disjointed early on as Farrell chops and changes to accommodate the returnees.
Let’s take a punt on the hosts to lead at half-time at 7/4 to finish off our Scotland vs Ireland betting tips.
Additional stats
Last result:
France 32-21 SCOTLAND
Italy 20-34 IRELAND
Head-to-head: Ireland 26-5 Scotland, Scotland 24-27 Ireland, Ireland 31-16 Scotland, Ireland 19-12 Scotland
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