Gaffney: We will stick with game plan

IRELAND attack coach Alan Gaffney has backed the side’s commitment to ball-in-hand rugby but admitted a win against Scotland on Sunday would be a timely affirmation of their current approach.

It was against the Scots in the final Six Nations game of the season last year when Ireland served notice of their intention to tweak their attacking style but it was an afternoon that ended with a dispiriting defeat at Croke Park. Rightly or wrongly, there has been a line of thinking that it was a turning point of sorts, with results in the meantime giving some credence to the suggestion that it is a loss from which Declan Kidney’s side have yet to recover.

Gaffney doesn’t agree.