Ireland's Tadhg Beirne has stated that the Irish team won't be focusing on any remarks from the Scottish team ahead of their clash on Saturday in the Six Nations.
Last year at the Rugby World Cup, Scottish fullback Blair Kinghorn said ahead of Ireland's game against Scotland in the final group game that they would end their winning streak.
“They have been on a good run of form recently, but we’ll end that on Saturday,” Kinghorn said.
Ireland went on to win, and Peter O'Mahony, after the game, responded to Kinghorn's comments by adding, "You know they were in the press beforehand, saying they were going to knock us off our winning streak.
“And you know how they figured us out and worked us out, and I don’t think they did tonight.”
This year Netflix released their "Full Contact" documentary series around the 2023 Six Nations, and there was also more insight into Scotland's view on the Irish team.
In the series, coach Gregor Townsend tells his players: “Over the last few years, I’ve heard a lot of things come out of Ireland. The Irish players and the Irish media believe we’re soft,” while Stuart Hogg is quoted saying, “We’re due these fkers one” and “fk them” in the series.
At halftime at Murrayfield last season, Townsend also said, “You’ve got them up front. We’re going to hammer them up front, in the maul, and in contact. And we’re fitter, and we make that fitness count.” Ireland won 22-7 despite the comments.
This weekend, Ireland heads into their final game of the Six Nations with a blotch on their 2024 Six Nations record. A narrow loss against England last Saturday has upped the stakes for Ireland.
Ireland and Scotland will meet, and only a win for Ireland will allow them to win the title again.
Darcy Graham of Scotland is tackled by Hugo Keenan and Garry Ringrose of Ireland during the Six Nations Rugby match between Ireland and Scotland at Aviva Stadium on March 19, 2022 in Dublin, Ireland. (Photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)The game this weekend is sure to have more back and forths, but Beirne is only focused on improving their performance from the England game.
"The Scots are the Scots; we have our perception of them, and I'm not going to verbalise it here because they've given us ammo in the past from what they've said in the media, and I would be surprised if it was any different this week,"he said
"But we're going to focus on ourselves because we didn't put in a performance against England that we're happy with. We know we're a lot better than that."
Rivalry in sports is a good thing, and for Beirne, it is part and parcel of the game. The Munster player is now "gunning" for more silverware.
"It's a rivalry, isn't it? That's part of the sport; we both love beating each other. That would be the way I'd put it. And it's going to be no different this weekend," he added.
"It's a very exciting weekend to go into because they have a chance to win silverware as well. So they're in a similar situation to us where they've had to dust themselves off after a loss, and they'll be hurting as well.
"We're both going into this game gunning for a win, and there's silverware there at the end of it for either of us if we do win."
Ireland's game against Scotland starts at 4.45 pm.
