Ireland coach Simon Easterby warns that Scotland's recent form and the unpredictability of fly-half Finn Russell make them a serious contender in the 2025 Six Nations.
Ireland coach Simon Easterby has warned that in-form Scotland and their unpredictable fly-half Finn Russell pose a significant threat to Ireland 's 2025 Six Nations title aspirations. Scotland 's upward trajectory in recent times is undeniable. The Glasgow Warriors clinched the 2023/24 URC championship, Blair Kinghorn secured a Champions Cup victory with Toulouse, and the national team displayed a renewed sense of purpose following their November international fixtures.
Their opening Six Nations match against Italy proved their mettle. Rory Darge and Huw Jones both crossed the try line within eight minutes, showcasing their attacking prowess. Although they relinquished a 14-point lead and fell behind, Scotland demonstrated resilience and ultimately triumphed 31-19, with Jones completing a hat-trick.Easterby acknowledges Scotland's strengths, particularly their consistent selections. 'They've been reasonably consistent in selection, certainly Finn Russell at 10, Huw Jones at 13,' he stated. 'They're missing Sione Tuipulotu (captain and first-centre) at the moment, but their back-three which has Blair Kinghorn, Duhan van der Merwe, Darcy Graham has been pretty constant, barring a couple of changes over the last couple of years.' This consistency, he believes, allows Scotland to operate with a high level of comfort and familiarity on the field.While Ireland is familiar with many of the Scottish players from their encounters in the URC and European competitions, they recognize the heightened challenge that arises when they unite as a national team. 'Obviously Finn Russell plays a certain way which over a period of time other players would be figuring out what that is and how they interact on the pitch and how they see space etc. 'So for us, our players play against these guys regularly in URC or European games but certainly when they come together for Scotland it heightens our sense of, if we don't get our house in order defensively, they're able to open up. 'And I think that's always the real challenge for this team, going up against someone like Finn Russell in particular, who is a little bit unpredictable, it means we've got to have a heightened sense of awareness around everything in the game and we can't drop out of the game at all. 'We kind of did that a little bit at the end of the game against England. We dropped out of a couple of things at the end. We know that when we're playing Scotland over the last couple of years, we've had to be on it for the whole game.'
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