Happy Saint Patrick’s Day. With the aim of spoiling the party at a very unsuccessful hunting ground for Scotland since the turn of the century, here is the Scotland team to face Ireland in Dublin on Saturday.
Glasgow Warriors stand-off Duncan Weir has been handed his first start of the championship in place of Finn Russell, who has been ruled out of the fixture with concussion, despite his continued progression through the graduated return-to-play protocol but a six day turnaround was always going to be a test for him. While not offering quite the snap of Russell or Horne, Weir has been in great form for Glasgow – try-scoring included – and will be keen to step up to the plate.
In the pack Wilson and Strauss swap again in what is presumably a “horses for courses” move while John Barclay is set for a long overdue 50th cap. It’s a pretty settled side at this point.
On the bench there is no place for a Toolis with Rob Harley covering the second row, meaning that we’re back to offering pace off the bench rather than heft, but Henry Pyrgos does come in for Sam Hidalgo-Clyne.
Scotland team to play Ireland at the Aviva Stadium, Saturday 19 March (kick-off 5pm) – live on ITV.
15. Stuart Hogg, 14. Tommy Seymour, 13. Duncan Taylor, 12. Alex Dunbar, 11. Tim Visser , 10. Duncan Weir, 9. Greig Laidlaw; 1. Al Dickinson, 2. Ross Ford, 3.WP Nel, 4. Richie Gray, 5. Tim Swinson , 6. John Barclay, 7. John Hardie, 8. Ryan Wilson
Replacements: 16 Stuart McInally 17 Rory Sutherland 18 Moray Low 19 Rob Harley 20 Josh Strauss 21 Henry Pyrgos 22 Peter Horne 23 Sean Lamont