Scotland's Hamish Watson: 'We owe Ireland one'

SCOTLAND OWE IRELAND ONE: Hamish Watson is one of a handful of Scottish players who have beaten Ireland. Pic:©INPHO/Andrew Fosker

Scotland’s Hamish Watson is one among a small, select and shrinking crew in that he knows what it is to come out on the right side of a result with Ireland.

The country’s losing streak against their Celtic neighbours stretches back eight games now, to the 2017 Six Nations when Watson and five others still on duty had the better of Joe Schmidt’s side on the opening weekend in Edinburgh.

Richie Gray had already got one under his belt, back in 2013, and the lock was on board again when Watson, Zander Fagerson, Huw Jones, Ali Price and Finn Russell all played their part in a 27-22 win in Edinburgh.

“We owe them one,” said Watson. “The last time we beat Ireland was 2017 in the Six Nations. Not many boys would have been involved in that one. It’s been a long time since we beat Ireland and we are playing them at their best.

“They have won 15 in a row or so, and they looked great against South Africa. That’s the way we like it, when we go in as underdogs and a bit written off. It’s a massive game for us and a massive game for our fans.” 

Ireland’s winning streak actually stands at 16 since that epic defeat of the Springboks in Paris in Pool B and Gregor Townsend has never been able to get the better of them as Scotland coach. Vern Cotter was the main in charge six years ago.

Townsend was clearly miffed by the narrative after that Ireland-South Africa game. He made it clear that Scotland’s intention was to puncture all those predictions of who Ireland would or would not meet in a quarter-final.

The mathematics are complicated in Pool B ahead of the final weekend with the possibility of a three-way tie at the top but beat the reigning Six Nations champions by more than seven points and Scotland would make the quarter-finals.

“It is going to be so tough,” said Watson who scored the first of Scotland’s 12 tries in the 84-0 defeat of Romania in Lille on Saturday. “They are looking very good, number one team in the world and quite rightly so as they've been playing well for two years or even longer now. But a lot of the pressure will be on them. They'll be expected to win, which is how we like it sometimes as well. We'll prep well this week.

“We have got to try and win by eight points, which will be tough against a team we haven't beaten for a long while. But on our day, when we play to the best of our abilities, we have got those games in our locker and we can beat those top teams. But we'll have to play incredibly well and it will have to be one of our best performances. It will be a hell of a day if we can get it done.” 

Townsend made a slew of changes for that cakewalk against the Romanians. Normal service will be resumed in terms of personnel against Ireland and Watson zoomed in on maybe the crucial area of operations ahead of the tie.

“They played amazing to beat South Africa but we know if we can deal with Ireland up front, and if our forward pack can front up at the setpiece and be as physical as possible, then we can unleash some really dangerous backs, which is very different to a few years ago.

“We have got some great backs who can do anything. You saw that with Darcy [Graham against Romania]. He scored some great tries but we have got a lot of other players who can do that as well.” 

Assistant coach Steve Tandy has confirmed that Scotland came through the game in Lille without any injury concerns while captain Jamie Ritchie is on schedule to feature against Ireland after suffering a concussion against Romania two weekends ago.