Are we really ready for Tartan threat?

AS banana skins go, they don’t come a lot more treacherous than this.

Few need reminding that it's 18 long years since Ireland have beaten Scotland at Murrayfield and in that time they have suffered untold ignominy.

None more so than October 2001 when the Scots overturned the odds in the most ruthless fashion, romping home by 32-10. That experience is too recent for comfort for several members of that irish side who have retained favour in the meantime. The others have had it drilled into them just how dangerous an Ian McGeechan and Jim Telfer coached Scottish side tends to be on home soil.