Rugby Union : Scotland v Ireland

A campaign which began in hope is in danger of crumbling into despondency for Scotland with a creditable performance against France followed by an abject display against Wales.

Scotland have bounced back before, most notably last autumn when a drubbing by New Zealand was followed by a famous win over South Africa - and they will need to do so again

Otherwise, with a visit to tournament favourites England next up, they could find themselves in another wooden spoon decider with Italy come the final weekend.

Wing Sean Lamont has not minced his words about the "abysmal" display against Wales, telling his team-mates they needed a players-only meeting where they could "do some finger-pointing and soul-searching".

Head coach Andy Robinson has called for "a performance that restores the pride in all Scotland supporters". Given Scotland's recent poor starts, he will be stressing the importance of hitting the ground running and early points would no doubt buoy the Murrayfield crowd, who have not seen a Scotland try for 15 months.

Tries are something that Brian O'Driscoll has never found hard to come by, especially against Scotland. The Ireland captain, who ran in a hat-trick against the men in dark blue in 2002, scored the first of his Six Nations tries against Scotland in 2000 and now needs just one more to equal the championship record of legendary Scottish wing Ian Smith.

After scraping through against Italy, Ireland looked in better shape against France and will be kicking themselves that they didn't make the most of their chances.

They will certainly fancy themselves to win on Sunday although will be all too aware that Scotland have a habit of putting a spoke in their Six Nations wheels. Ten years ago, they upset Ireland's Grand Slam hopes in a match delayed until the autumn by the Foot & Mouth crisis.

And last year, the Scots upset Ireland's farewell to Croke Park by denying them the Triple Crown with their first away win in the Six Nations for four years.

Defeat for Scotland would leave them in real danger of the wooden spoon and dash Ireland's hopes of a Triple Crown so there is plenty at stake. The famed "conviviality" of the Celts has been in the news this week but don't expect much of it to be on show at Murrayfield on Sunday.

MATCH FACTS

Head-to-head

• Scotland's win in Dublin last year brought to an end a run of eight successive Six Nations defeats to Ireland.

• Ireland have won the last four Six Nations meetings at Murrayfield.

• Scotland are 9th in the IRB world rankings; Ireland are 6th.

Scotland

• Scotland have conceded a try within the first 10 minutes in six of their last eight Tests (and within the first nine minutes of all of their last three).

• Scotland did not score a try at Murrayfield in 2010. Their last try there was Graeme Morrison's against Fiji in November 2009 - since then, they have played seven matches at Murrayfield without scoring a try.

• Scotland's 19 errors against Wales was the highest match tally so far in this year's Six Nations.

Ireland

• Ireland have lost three of their last five away matches.

• Ireland have failed to score a try just once in their last 13 matches (v Australia in November). They have scored at least one try in their last 13 Six Nations match (since losing 16-12 to Wales in March 2008).

• Ronan O'Gara is 13 points short of the 1,000 Ireland points mark. He would be the fifth man to reach four figures.

TEAM LINE-UPS

Scotland: 15-Chris Paterson, 14-Nikki Walker, 13-Nick De Luca, 12-Sean Lamont, 11-Max Evans, 10-Ruaridh Jackson, 9-Mike Blair, 8-Johnnie Beattie, 7-John Barclay, 6-Kelly Brown, 5-Alastair Kellock, 4-Richie Gray, 3-Moray Low, 2-Ross Ford, 1-Allan Jacobsen.

Replacements: 16-Scott Lawson, 17-Geoff Cross, 18-Nathan Hines, 19-Richie Vernon, 20-Rory Lawson, 21-Dan Parks, 22-Simon Danielli.

Ireland: 15-Luke Fitzgerald, 14-Tommy Bowe, 13-Brian O'Driscoll (captain), 12-Gordon D'Arcy, 11-Keith Earls, 10-Ronan O'Gara, 9-Eoin Reddan; 8-Jamie Heaslip, 7-David Wallace, 6-Sean O'Brien, 5-Paul O'Connell, 4-Donncha O'Callaghan, 3-Mike Ross, 2-Rory Best, 1-Cian Healy.

Replacements: 16-Sean Cronin, 17-Tom Court, 18-Leo Cullen, 19-Denis Leamy, 20-Peter Stringer, 21-Jonathan Sexton, 22-Paddy Wallace.

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Nigel Owens (WAL)

Touch judges: Andrew Small (ENG) & Pascal Gauzere (FRA)

TV: Graham Hughes (ENG)

Source : http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/rugby_union/9405955.stm