John McKee: Ireland not distracted by third-place race

John McKee says Ireland won't be distracted by the potential prize of World Cup qualification for Saturday's Guinness Women's Six Nations finale against Scotland in Belfast.

Ireland go into this weekend's showdown with Scotland knowing a win would see them finish fourth at a minimum, although they could potentially climb up to third depending on the result between Wales and Italy earlier in the day.

A third place finish would guarantee World Cup qualification for Scott Bemand's side, while it would also see them advance to the top tier of the WXV championship in the autumn.

But the Ireland senior coach has stressed that their motivation this week isn't around the prize on offer.

"The focus for us this week is the performance we bring against Scotland at Kingspan," McKee said.

"That's all we've focused in on, and what's in our control is how we approach that game and how we actually play in the game, the level of performance we bring.

"Other things, how we finish in the competition, depends on other things, maybe on other results, but certainly for us, we bring our best game to Kingspan and play really well, the positions in the table will look after themselves."

As things stand, Scotland hold third place heading into the weekend, while Italy and Ireland are both two points further back in the table, with the Italians ahead of Ireland on points difference.

With Wales and Italy finishing before Ireland and Scotland kick off, Bemand's side will know what their target is to potentially climb up to third in the table.

"Obviously, the other game is earlier than ours, so the result will be known, people will know what's required going into the game.

"That wouldn't be our primary focus as our motivator or our psychology going into the