Andy Farrell says Scottish confidence is fully justified ahead of this Saturday's Guinness Six Nations finale in Dublin, after their opponents' winger Darcy Graham suggested Ireland were "there for the taking".
Ireland have won the last 11 meetings in a row with the Scots dating back to 2017, but Gregor Townsend’s side will travel intent on breaking that streak to win the Triple Crown, and take the clubhouse lead in the race for the Six Nations outright.
Graham’s comments that Ireland are "there for the taking" have been a talking point in recent days, with Scottish confidence in plentiful supply after their 50-40 win against France last Saturday.
Farrell was asked about those comments this afternoon after naming his squad for the Triple Crown decider, and says their opponents have earned the right to come to Dublin with confidence.
"Yes, he's entitled to his opinion, first and foremost," the Ireland head coach replied.
"He's a great lad, Darcy. Obviously I got to know him in the Lions, so it's how he feels and obviously how the squad feels, and rightly so, in my opinion.
"They were outstanding last week against France, and we've been preparing for another Scottish performance like that.
"We know that we'll have to be at our best to beat them, as they're a side that we've always respected."
Farrell made four changes to his team for the final round of the championship, with Dan Sheehan, Joe McCarthy, Josh van der Flier and Tommy O’Brien all recalled, but the big news was the injury absence of James Ryan (above), who misses out due to a calf injury.
The second row picked up the knock during last week’s win against Wales, which Farrell says turned out to be worse then first suspected.
"We thought it was just a contusion to his calf and we thought that was going to be fine.
"Sunday, Monday, he was looking that way, but we tried to get him going, we trained Tuesday and he didn't even get to start on Tuesday. So that was that and the rest of the squad have trained fully therefore after that.
"It's disappointing for James and disappointing for us because he's been in unbelievable form in this Six Nations.
"So any type of team would miss a player like James Ryan. But as far as our preparation is concerned, it's not been too disruptive because everyone's trained fully all week."
With McCarthy coming in from the start, Connacht’s Darragh Murray takes the vacant second row slot on the bench.
The 24-year-old, who won two caps for Ireland against Georgia and Portugal last summer, will make his Six Nations debut this weekend, having initially only been named as a training panellist with the Irish team in January.
"First and foremost, he's a great rugby player," Farrell said of the Connacht lock.
"He's obviously very young, and he's had a very patient campaign so far.
"He's been an unbelievable team-mate in how he's helped prepare everyone else through this Six Nations.
"It just shows, doesn't it, the attritional side of the game, which is the Six Nations, that anything could jump out at you, and it just shows if you prepare well and keep showing everyone that you belong at this type of level, then people will put their trust in you.
"That's certainly what's happened for us with Darragh this week."
Andy Farrell reveals details of the injury that keeps James Ryan out of Ireland's clash with Scotland #RTERugby #RTESport pic.twitter.com/h7tI5YTQWK
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) March 12, 2026
A win for Ireland on Saturday will secure a fourth Triple Crown in the last five years, while Scotland will be looking to do so for the first time since 1990.
Both teams still harbour an outside chance of taking the title outright, but with that being out of their hands, Farrell says they will put everything into the 80 minutes, and let the rest take cane of itself.
"Of course, you would love to dream like that," the Ireland coach said.
"Obviously, the rest of it is out of our hands, but there's something that's in our hands. We concentrate on our performance first and foremost, then something that's pretty special to us, that's the Triple Crown.
"Over the years, it's been hard to come by when you're playing for Ireland, so we're desperate to make sure that we get across that."
Listen to the RTÉ Rugby podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts, and email us at sportpodcasts@rte.ie
Follow a live blog on Ireland v Scotland in the Six Nations on Saturday from 2.10pm on the RTÉ News app and on rte.ie/sport. Listen to commentary on Saturday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1.
Watch Wales v Italy (4.40pm) and France v England (8.10pm) on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player this Saturday.
