Preview: Ireland aim to maintain winning streak v Scots

Nothing lasts forever, and on Monday's Against the Head, the point was made that Scotland will eventually shake off their Irish hoodoo "one of these days".

Sitting at a bulging departure gate at Dublin Airport at 5.30am on Saturday morning, almost everyone catching a flight to Edinburgh from Ireland will be hoping today won't be one of them – one or two thistle-crested shirts aside.

As has become the regular narrative in this fixture, a well-fancied Irish side head to Murrayfield this afternoon to take on a Scottish team that are looking to back up some previous good work.

A Guinness Six Nations run for Scotland has become what a World Cup quarter-final win is for Ireland, but rather than once every four years, theirs is an annual tradition of hope and pain, and always in that order.

It’s 26 years since Scotland won the last of their 14 championships. In that time, they’ve seen Ireland, Wales and France collect six each, while England have added seven.

Even a Triple Crown – that thing that barely registers with Irish fans anymore – has proved elusive. Having lost to England when they did win the old Five Nations in 1999, you’d have to go back to the Grand Slam of 1990 for the last time they put together wins against England, Ireland and Wales in a single year.

For a good chunk of that 26-year gap since their last championship success, hope was in short supply, but since Gregor Townsend’s (above) arrival as head coach in the summer of 2017, but Glasgow's URC title success last season, coupled with Blair Kinghorn thriving at Toulouse, means there is a core element of this team that know how to win silverware.

The problem for Townsend is that while his Scotland team are far better than they were in 2017, so too and Ireland and