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As Ireland ramp up preparations to face Scotland in a crunch Rugby World Cup Pool B match on Saturday, it seems appropriate to reflect on the last time the two teams played each other.
For Ireland, it was the penultimate stop on their road to the Grand Slam, and it turned out to be a fairly chaotic afternoon.
Caelan Doris remembers it well. Outstanding in Ireland’s wins over Wales, France and Italy, the back rower was forced off inside the opening quarter of an hour at Murrayfield after hurting his hip.
The disruptions did not stop there. Just six minutes later, the Irish lost hooker Dan Sheehan. Five minutes after that, second row Iain Henderson was forced off.
While Ireland led 8-7 at the break, when replacement hooker Ronan Kelleher limped off, most Irish fans began to believe they were watching the Grand Slam slip away.
Thankfully, the men in green on the pitch remained unfazed. Replacement prop Cian Healy slotted in at hooker while flanker Josh van der Flier took over lineout throwing duties.
In the end, an injury-depleted Ireland still proved too strong for Scotland. They won 22-7, moved on and beat England the following week to seal the Grand Slam on home soil.
“Looking back at the last game in the Six Nations, I came off after 10 or 11 minutes, but it was a pretty wild game,” recalls Doris.
“Cian Healy was scrummaging at hooker and Josh was throwing the ball in, it was a wild game, but hopefully things will go a little bit better this time.”
One of the factors behind Ireland’s rise in recent years has been their ability to pull results out of the fire when things go badly awry, and Doris agrees that the Scotland game at Murrayfield stands out as a key example of that.
“Definitely. Like I said, I was injured. At half-time, I’d been changed and showered and was sitting back and watching everyone from a distance and just remember a sense of excitement about ‘this has gone wrong, this has gone wrong, I’m in a different position, he’s in a different position, but how good is this going to be when we click and get things right and are back in here after having won the game’.
“So instead of it spooking us or throwing us or the lads being nervous, there was a sense of gathering in and getting through this together, it’s going to be class. That highlights it a little bit.”
Ireland resumed training on Thursday having enjoyed a few days off following last week’s bruising 13-8 win over reigning world champions South Africa in Paris.
Doris has played a lot of Test rugby during a demanding 2023 but says he and his team-mates have benefitted from their down week falling immediately after facing a brutally physical Springboks side.
“Our pre-season was done very well in terms of having a week off here and there and a few weeks off at the end of last season,” he explained.
“So I came into pre-season feeling pretty good and then I think the timing of this week, it’s pretty optimal as well in terms of three games on, a week off and then into the last big one.
“Some teams obviously had their week off at the start and some have it at the end which makes for four games in a row, which is a little bit tougher, but the timing of this has been good.
“I’m feeling pretty good going into a few days training now and then we’ll have Sunday off and be raring to go next week.”
‘Nothing is concrete at all yet’
Ireland will qualify for the quarter-finals and guarantee top spot in Pool B if they avoid defeat by Scotland at the Stade de France.
With South Africa likely to take five points from their match with Tonga on Sunday, Scotland, who hammered Romania 84-0 on Saturday, would need to beat Andy Farrell’s side while also denying them a bonus point in order to reach the knockout stages.
But what does Doris make of a Scotland team who still have hopes of wrecking Ireland’s World Cup dream?
“I think they’re a quality team, I think Finn Russell is a bit of a maverick and leads them very well, and he’s capable of sort of doing something from nothing.
“And from a back row perspective, I obviously always keep quite a close eye on back rows on other teams and they’ve got a quality one. Jack Dempsey’s playing very well, he’s an abrasive ball-carrier. I’ve had good battles against him with Glasgow as well.
“Obviously [Jamie] Ritchie their captain and they kind of have two sevens in a way, I know [Rory] Darge is playing for them as well but Richie acts as a seven really. They have Matt Ferguson off the bench as well so it’s always a well-contested team around the breakdown.”
Doris, who has 34 caps having made his Test debut in 2020, also stressed that Ireland are fully aware that the goal of reaching the knockout stages is not yet achieved despite winning the first three games of the tournament.
“I think we’re aware, partly because of how close a game it was and how big a Test match and spectacle it was, given it was in Paris and the travelling support, you kind of feel a bit of a buzz off the back of it. “But within camp we’re definitely aware that we’re still in the group stages. Nothing is concrete at all yet. We still have a massive match to come. We want to finish the group stages on a high definitely.
“We feel there’s a lot more from us performance wise, definitely, so the lads are ready for work and ready to go again.”
By Matt Gault
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