RBS Six Nations: Scotland v Ireland
Venue: Murrayfield Date: Sunday 27 February Kick-off: 1500 GMT
Coverage: Watch on BBC One, BBC HD channel, Red Button and BBC Sport website; listen on BBC Radio Scotland, Radio Ulster & online; text commentary on BBC Sport website and mobiles

Captain Alastair Kellock hopes self-scrutiny will give the Scotland team the platform to beat Ireland on Sunday.

The players held a meeting on Monday to review the 24-6 defeat to Wales and look to put things right.

"We weren't happy with the way it went against Wales and it was important that when we came in on Monday there was a great deal of honesty," said Kellock.

"So, we did that but then we made sure that we were moving on quickly as well and concentrating on Ireland."

The error-strewn loss to Wales followed an opening Six Nations defeat to France, meaning Scotland go into the third Test of the series looking for their first win.

"It's about talking about what you can do better as an individual but it's also about saying to other people what you expect from them and that goes right across the board," said Kellock.

Over the last couple of games we've not put in a performance that's deserved a win so we've got to put the performance in first and foremost and if we do that I believe we can win Alastair Kellock

"That's not just coming down from the coaches, that's the players sitting looking somebody in the eye and asking what you need from each other.

"We know that we underperformed. We underperformed in many areas. We made far too many mistakes, we made some poor decisions, we possibly sat back and expected somebody else to do it for us.

"None of these things you can do if you expect to win an international game, especially a Six Nations game."

Amongst Scotland's harshest critics following the defeat to Wales was Sean Lamont, who featured as a substitute in that match and starts at inside centre against Ireland.

"I want Sean getting the ball in his hands and running hard at the Irish, making us difficult to defend, getting us over the game line and bringing everybody else into the game because of that," Kellock said.

There is also a place for Chris Paterson, who will extend his record-holding caps tally to 102.

"It's an outstanding achievement but he won't be looking at the fact that he's winning 102 caps or he's won 102 caps, he'll be looking at this game," Kellock said.

"He's a great professional, he brings a lot of leadership to this squad, he's a very vocal guy. He's helping Ruaridh Jackson out there, he's helping everybody and it's great to have him back."

Scotland's downfall in the opening two Tests has been their inability to start well and Kellock knows the Irish will need to be countered effectively in the opening stages.

"The emphasis has been on looking after the ball, it's been on not coughing up silly penalties, it's about making sure our defence is up to speed straight away," added the skipper.

"They will have a spell in that first 10 minutes. We don't know how long it will be but it's about how we react to when they have got the ball and when we get it back making sure that we're playing in the right areas and we're playing the right moves.

"Over the last couple of games we've not put in a performance that's deserved a win so we've got to put the performance in first and foremost and if we do that I believe we can win."

E-mail this to a friend

Printable version