Ireland's bid to retain their Guinness Six Nations title continues with a trip to Scotland on Sunday afternoon.
Simon Easterby’s men come into the clash off the back of a superb 27-22 bonus-point win over England, while the hosts scored five tries in a 31-19 victory over Italy.
You have to go back to the 2017 championship for the last time Scotland beat Ireland, who have won the last 10 in a row across Six Nations, World Cups and Autumn Nations Cups.
Find out all you need to know about the game here.
TV
The game is live on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player from 2pm on Sunday. Highlights of all of the weekend's games are on Against the Head, Monday, 8pm.
ONLINE
Follow a live blog on RTE.ie/sport and the RTÉ News App followed by report, reaction and player ratings.
RADIO
Listen to live commentary on RTÉ Radio 1's Sunday Sport.
WEATHER
Edinburgh is set for lights clouds with a gentle breeze on Sunday afternoon. There's a low chance of rain in temperatures of about 6C.
Listen to the RTÉ Rugby podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
Ireland have not only won the last 10 games in a row against Scotland but also 21 of the 25 matches they've played in the Six Nations.
Scotland’s win rate of 16% in this fixture is their lowest against any team in the championship.
Despite some jitters against Italy last weekend, Gregor Townsend’s side ran out five-try to one winners but have only once started a Six Nations campaign, in 2023, with two wins on the bounce.
Last weekend against England Simon Easterby’s side produced their best performance since the defeat of France at the same stage of last year’s winning campaign, however, their solitary loss in their previous 14 Six Nations games came in their last away fixture, to England in March 2024.
Both teams retained 100% of their lineout ball in round one, Scotland were 13/13 and Ireland 23/23.
It’s the 144th meetings of the teams, the 71st in Scotland, with Ireland winning 71 times to the Scots’ 67 victories and there have been five draws.
Easterby has stuck with Sam Prendergast at out-half, with Jack Crowley in reserve, while Peter O'Mahony and Robbie Henshaw come into the starting XV. Mack Hansen withdrew with a hamstring injury on Saturday afternoon with Munster's Calvin Nash called in.
The hosts have made three changes to the side that accounted for Italy with Rory Sutherland, Jack Dempsey and Tom Jordan all coming in.
TEAMS
Ireland: Hugo Keenan; Calvin Nash, Robbie Henshaw, Bundee Aki, James Lowe; Sam Prendergast, Jamison Gibson-Park; Andrew Porter, Rónan Kelleher, Finlay Bealham; James Ryan, Tadhg Beirne; Peter O'Mahony, Josh van der Flier, Caelan Doris (capt).
Replacements: Dan Sheehan, Cian Healy, Thomas Clarkson, Ryan Baird, Jack Conan, Conor Murray, Jack Crowley, Garry Ringrose.
Scotland: Scotland: Blair Kinghorn; Darcy Graham, Huw Jones, Tom Jordan, Duhan van der Merwe; Finn Russell (co-capt), Ben White; Rory Sutherland, Dave Cherry, Zander Fagerson; Jonny Gray, Grant Gilchrist; Matt Fagerson, Rory Darge (co-capt), Jack Dempsey.
Replacements: Ewan Ashman, Pierre Schoeman, Will Hurd, Sam Skinner, Gregor Brown, Jamie Ritchie, Jamie Dobie, Stafford McDowall.
OFFICIALS
Referee: James Doleman (NZ)
ARs: Ben O'Keeffe (NZ) & Pierre Brousset (Fra)
TMO: Richard Kelly (NZ)
FPRO: Andrew Jackson (Eng)
WHAT THEY SAID:
Simon Easterby (interim Ireland head coach): "We know the motivation they'll have, they won't need any but we've obviously got internal motivation this year in terms of what we're trying to do. It's a factor but it's not something we've paid too much attention to."
Gregor Townsend (Scotland head coach): "I think teams want to build up something to provide extra motivation, so maybe it's more on the Irish side or the Irish media side that there's this rivalry or needle to give them extra motivation on why they want to win again."
LAST FIVE MEETINGS
Ireland 17-13 Scotland - Aviva Stadium (16 March 2024) Six Nations
Ireland 36-14 Scotland - Stade de France (7 October 2023) World Cup Pool B
Scotland 7-22 Ireland - Murrayfield (12 March 2023) Six Nations
Ireland 26-5 Scotland - Aviva Stadium (19 March 2022) Six Nations
Scotland 24-27 Ireland - Murrayfield (14 March 2021) Six Nations
The weekend's action kicks off in Rome Saturday afternoon (2.15pm) with Wales, on the back of 13 Test defeats in a row, up against Italy, who lost to Scotland last weekend.
It's Le Crunch in Twickenham later, with England hosting France, kick-off is 4.45pm.
