Cave: Seven or eight out of 10 enough for Ireland to beat Scotland

Darren Cave believes Ireland can afford to put in a "seven or eight out of 10" performance and still beat Scotland.

The sides meet in the final round of the Guinness Six Nations championship in Dublin on Saturday with Andy Farrell's team, who lost to England at the weekend, four points clear at the top of the table.

A win or draw for the hosts will seal the title, and even a losing bonus point is likely to put Ireland into an unassailable position.

Ireland have an impressive recent record against the Scots, who beat England in round three but lost away to Italy last time out.

It’s 14 years since Scotland beat Ireland in Dublin, and they have only won once in the last ten championship meetings.

In addition, the teams squared off in the last two World Cups with Ireland winning 27-3 in Japan in 2019 and 36-14 last year in France.

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"First things first: beat Scotland and win the championship," former Ulster and Ireland centre Cave told RTÉ Sport.

"No disrespect to Scotland but there are better teams in the world. I don’t think Ireland have to be 10 out of 10 to beat Scotland.

"If we play seven or eight out of 10 this week, I do think that should be enough."

On Ireland’s two most recent losses when England and New Zealand managed to stop Farrell’s side getting into their rhythm, Cave said: "Big picture, now that Ireland have a target on their back how do Ireland become better at not being disrupted?

"England had a really good plan, executed it really well and we didn’t deal with it perfectly.

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