Stuart McInally relishing Guinness Six Nations test against Ireland

Scotland hooker Stuart McInally admits he is relishing the challenge of facing Andy Farrell's impressive Ireland when the two sides meet in Dublin in Round 5 of the 2022 Guinness Six Nations. Gregor Townsend's Scotland squad will travel to the Aviva Stadium on 19 March with revenge on the agenda on Super Saturday after Ireland prevailed 27-24 when the two met at BT Murrayfield last year. Ad/> Ireland suffered a narrow 30-24 loss to France in Round 2 but have picked up victories over Wales and Italy — Scotland's next opponents, and McInally knows just how well their final opposition have been playing ahead of their crunch clash against England at Twickenham in Round 4.

RugbyMcInally hoping for improved Scotland against Italy8 MINUTES AGO «They're playing great rugby. Just how physical they're being at the breakdown and how direct they're being with some of their forward runners. It's causing teams huge problems,» he said.

«You also look at the way they managed to cause France some problems with nice bits of play, with [Tadhg] Furlong putting these plays out the back, causing them problems. »They have the ability to be direct but also they seem to have a brilliant way of finding space wide as well. They've got some dangerous wingers who are on great form.

«I've been really impressed with Ireland. That's going to be a huge challenge for us but we relish that, we want to go over there and finish the tournament on a high. »Although we can't win the tournament now, we can still win these last two games and that's what we're focusing on." Scotland travel to Rome this weekend with the Cuttitta Cup being contested for the first time.