{"id":382123,"date":"2026-03-12T23:11:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-12T23:11:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/382123\/"},"modified":"2026-03-12T23:11:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T23:11:09","slug":"andy-farrell-plays-strongest-hand-as-ireland-look-to-seal-triple-crown-with-victory-over-scotland-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/382123\/","title":{"rendered":"Andy Farrell plays strongest hand as Ireland look to seal Triple Crown with victory over Scotland \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Andy Farrell<\/a> has rotated his squad like never before in his seventh Six Nations<\/a> campaign, with a nod toward the more congested format and the next World Cup.<\/p>\n

Yet with more on the line in this Saturday\u2019s Triple Crown shoot-out against Scotland<\/a> at the Aviva Stadium (kick-off 2.10pm), one has the distinct impression that the Ireland<\/a> head coach has opted to play what he now sees as his strongest available hand.<\/p>\n

This game will go a long way toward defining Ireland\u2019s campaign, the high water mark of the last three wins being the record Twickenham win in round three. Accordingly, Farrell has reverted to that team bar injuries.<\/p>\n

Back come Dan Sheehan, Joe McCarthy and Josh van der Flier, the former having been rested altogether against Wales, while the latter two were on the bench. Compared to the starting XV for that 42-21 win over England, Tom O\u2019Toole and Jack Conan have been picked in place of Jeremy Loughman and the injured James Ryan. Conan was a late withdrawal from the bench in Twickenham due to illness before his man of the match display against Wales.<\/p>\n

The only other change from that XV is also injury-related, with Tommy O\u2019Brien starting on the left wing in place of James Lowe, as he did for the last hour in Twickenham. The result was the sight of O\u2019Brien and Robert Baloucoune occasionally working in sweet harmony on either edge, much like the French wingers do to thrilling effect, and has rarely been seen before for an Irish side.<\/p>\n

Baloucoune had replaced O\u2019Brien after the opening night defeat in Paris and has started the last three matches on the right wing, but now O\u2019Brien has been chosen on the left to reprise their double act. Arguably not since Simon Zebo and Tommy Bowe were in harness has an Irish team had so much pace on the wings. Their selection is clear recognition that Ireland are moving towards accommodating authentic wingers more so than previously as they also seek to become more threatening off transition and broken play.<\/p>\n

Both are good defenders too and their selection counters the pace of Kyle Steyn and Darcy Graham, each of whom scored two of Scotland\u2019s seven tries against France.<\/p>\n

Hence, despite Jacob Stockdale scoring and creating tries against Wales, he makes way for O\u2019Brien.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all know what type of player Tommy is,\u201d said Farrell. \u201cHe\u2019s a type of player that attacks the game and that\u2019s the only way he knows. And he certainly did that against England, so he deserves his chance this weekend.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut also Jacob Stockdale could be proud of what he\u2019s done over the Six Nations, as far as proving to himself and to us and to everyone else that he\u2019s back at this level.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think he\u2019s made great strides as far as international rugby, getting back on to the scene and he\u2019s very unlucky. I suppose he\u2019d be disappointed as well, not to take the field this weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ireland, like Scotland, go into the first of Super Saturday\u2019s trio of final-round games knowing that a win will secure the Triple Crown and leave them atop the table and needing a favour from England to lift a second trophy in the evening.<\/p>\n

\"BundeeBundee Aki returns to an Irish matchday squad for the first time in this year’s Six Nations. Photograph: Ben Brady\/Inpho <\/p>\n

\u201cOf course, you would love to dream like that,\u201d admitted Farrell. \u201cObviously, the rest of it is out of our hands, but there\u2019s something that\u2019s in our hands. We concentrate on our performance first and foremost. When something that\u2019s pretty special to us, that\u2019s the Triple Crown. Over the years, it\u2019s been hard to come by when you\u2019re playing for Ireland, so we\u2019re desperate to make sure that we get across that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Farrell has also restored Finlay Bealham, Craig Casey and, after his three-match ban, Bundee Aki, to the bench, and confirmed that the later was straining at the leash to make his first appearance of this championship.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is, he\u2019s in great form,\u201d said Farrell. \u201cHe\u2019s one of those players, as you all know, who makes the dressingroom feel right and he\u2019s certainly done that over the last two weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Injuries have forced Farrell\u2019s hand again, with Ryan the latest casualty, so in addition to Aki, Darragh Murray will become the 35th Irish player to feature in this year\u2019s Six Nations.<\/p>\n

The 24-year-old Connacht lock was not even named in the original 37-man squad and was brought to Portugal initially as a training panellist. By contrast, neither Cormac Izuchukwu and Edwin Edogbo have appeared since their sole outings against Italy in round two, while Murray will add to the two caps he earned in July in Georgia and Portugal. His renowned lineout work would have impressed Paul O\u2019Connell when he was interim head coach for those summer Tests.<\/p>\n

Scotland\u2019s secondrow stocks have been reduced by the injuries to Gregor Brown and Scott Cummings, so in come Max Williamson and Grant Gilchrist. In a third change Zander Fagerson is restored at tighthead prop.<\/p>\n

Graham stoked the fires last Tuesday when venturing that Ireland were \u201cthere for the taking\u201d, albeit amid an extended tribute to their opponents this Saturday, who have won the last 11 meetings with the Scots.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s entitled to his opinion first and foremost,\u201d said Farrell of Graham, whose two tries against France took his tally to 37 to top Scotland\u2019s all-time leading try scorer.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a great lad Darcy, actually. Obviously, I got to know him in the Lions, so it\u2019s how he feels and obviously how the squad feels, and rightly so, in my opinion.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cThey were outstanding last week against France, and we\u2019ve been preparing for another Scottish performance like that. We know that we\u2019ll have to be at our best to beat them, as they\u2019re a side that we\u2019ve always respected.\u201d<\/p>\n

IRELAND: <\/b>Jamie Osborne; Rob Baloucoune, Garry Ringrose, Stuart McCloskey, Tommy O\u2019Brien; Jack Crowley, Jamison Gibson-Park; Tom O\u2019Toole, Dan Sheehan, Tadhg Furlong; Joe McCarthy, Tadhg Beirne; Jack Conan, Josh van der Flier, Caelan Doris (capt). <\/p>\n

Replacements:<\/b> R\u00f3nan Kelleher, Mike Milne, Finlay Bealham, Darragh Murray, Nick Timoney, Craig Casey, Ciar\u00e1n Frawley, Bundee Aki.<\/p>\n

SCOTLAND: <\/b>Blair Kinghorn; Darcy Graham, Huw Jones, Sione Tuipulotu (capt), Kyle Steyn; Finn Russell (vice-capt), Ben White; Pierre Schoeman, George Turner, Zander Fagerson; Max Williamson, Grant Gilchrist; Matt Fagerson, Rory Darge (vice-capt), Jack Dempsey. <\/p>\n

Replacements: <\/b>Ewan Ashman, Rory Sutherland, D\u2019Arcy Rae, Alex Craig, Magnus Bradbury, George Horne, Kyle Rowe, Tom Jordan.<\/p>\n

Follow our rugby WhatsApp channel<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

If you want the latest rugby news, analysis and opinion then you should follow our dedicated WhatsApp channel. From Gerry Thornley to Owen Doyle and Gordon D\u2019Arcy, we have every angle covered.<\/p>\n

Find the channel here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Andy Farrell has rotated his squad like never before in his seventh Six Nations campaign, with a nod…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":382124,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[76],"tags":[70904,18,19,17,34132,97580,96426,132,110030],"class_list":{"0":"post-382123","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-andy-farrell","9":"tag-eire","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-ireland-rugby","13":"tag-scotland-rugby","14":"tag-six-nations","15":"tag-sports","16":"tag-tommy-o-brien"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382123","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=382123"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382123\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/382124"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=382123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=382123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=382123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}