Ireland targeting best performance of Six Nations in pivotal Scotland clash

Ireland head coach Andy Farrell has challenged his players to produce their best performance of the Guinness Six Nations and prevent Scotland spoiling the Dublin party.

Victory over the Scots on Saturday will secure the Triple Crown, while a subsequent slip-up from Grand Slam-chasing France against England in Paris would leave Farrell’s side celebrating the championship title.

Ireland have not lifted silverware on home soil for 18 years and Farrell is determined to seize a rare opportunity at the Aviva Stadium.

“We’ve put ourselves in a position to do that, which is nice,” he said.

“But, as you would expect me to say, it’s just about this game, about our preparation.

“We’re under no illusions that Scotland are going to be at their best, nothing to lose, a great side coming to the Aviva trying to spoil a little bit of a party.

“How do you manage that? You get across your preparation and you make sure that you take your learnings.

“And hopefully we’re after our best performance of the tournament.”

Ireland began the competition by brushing aside defending champions Wales and then recovered from a narrow defeat away to title rivals France by seeing off Italy and England.

Meanwhile, Scotland faded fast from the jubilation of retaining the Calcutta Cup and are now bidding to avoid finishing second bottom of the standings.

Although the Scots have suffered six successive defeats to Ireland and not won in Dublin since 2010, Farrell remains wary of their threats.

“They’re a good side,” he said. “We’ve had some really tough tussles with them of late.

“The last couple of campaigns in the Six Nations, I think they’ve lost four games and they’ve all been lost by one score. They’re a tough team to play against, a tough team to beat.

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