Wary Andrew Trimble seeks to swot up on Scotland

The smiles are back and the spring has returned to players’ steps but Ireland wing Andrew Trimble fears that Scotland might be in the mood to rain on his side’s end-of-season parade this Saturday evening.

The clouds that hung over the Ireland camp during a frustrating 2016 Six Nations campaign were lifted last weekend when Joe Schmidt’s side let rip to punish a woefully poor Italy with a nine-try show in a 56-15 hammering at the Aviva Stadium.

Yet with a victory finally in the win column, try-scorer Trimble is only too aware that the resurgent Scots could ensure it remains the only entry as they arrive in Dublin with optimism soaring following a first defeat of France in a decade last Sunday.