Ireland vs Scotland: Team News, Title Race & Six Nations Preview

Good morning all.

We’ve made it! The final weekend of the 2026 Six Nations is nearly here – Andy Farrell has one last matchday side to announce as Ireland bring their campaign to a close in Dublin against Scotland on Saturday.

The Ireland team will be named at 2pm, while Scotland’s is due to be announced around 11am.

In the meantime, we’ll be taking you through everything you need to know before Super Saturday. I’ll be chatting you through the title permutations, previewing this weekend’s fixtures and sharing the latest news, analysis and opinion from our team of rugby writers and contributors.

First things first, here’s how the Six Nations table is looking with one round remaining:

Focusing on Ireland, it’s quite simple – they need to beat Scotland if they’re to really be in with a chance of snatching the title.

If Ireland win in Dublin, Scotland would likely be out of the running (needing a endeavor-scoring and losing bonus point to stay in contention in the case of a defeat), leaving it down to England to do us a solid against France.

Here’s the breakdown of Ireland’s potential title-winning options:

Option 1 – Ireland win with a bonus point: Ireland move to 19 points and Scotland are out of the running. To win the title, Ireland then need France to lose to England (regardless of bonus points) or draw without a try-scoring bonus point.

Ireland could also win the championship if France draw against England with a try-scoring bonus point, but they would need to get ahead of Les Bleus on scoring difference. But given Ireland currently trail France by 63 points in terms of scoring difference, that’s a rather unlikely option.

Option 2 – Ireland win without a bonus point: If Ireland win without a bonus point, putting them on 18 points, Scotland would still be in contention if they lose by less than seven points (earning the losing bonus point) and if they score more than four tries (for the try-scoring bonus point). In that case, who comes out on top between Ireland and Scotland would go down to scoring differential, the Scots currently +5 ahead of Ireland.

For the sake of clarity, let’s grab Scotland out of the equation. So Ireland get a win in Dublin, but no bonus point, what next? The most straightforward way by which Ireland would win the Six Nations is if France lose to England with no bonus point, or they lose to England and earn just one bonus point.

Should France lose and pick up a second bonus point, or draw with no bonus point, then the championship would go down to scoring difference again. As we’ve been over, France’s scoring differential is much better than Ireland’s (+79 versus +16) so this scenario would likely not play out well for us.

Ireland and Scotland play in the opener at the Aviva Stadium where there’ll be a 2.10pm kick-off. Then it’s over to Cardiff where Wales host Italy from 4.40pm before France and England bring the tournament to a close at the Stade de France (kick-off 8.10pm Irish time).

With Ireland, Scotland and France still in contention, the fall of Saturday’s games mean we’ll be waiting on the final whistle in Paris to learn who takes the 2026 title.

Scotland have named their team for Saturday’s clash in Dublin. Here’s how they line out:

SCOTLAND: Blair Kinghorn; Darcy Graham, Huw Jones, Sione Tuipulotu (capt), Kyle Steyn; Finn Russell (vice-capt), Ben White; Pierre Schoeman, George Turner, Zander Fagerson; Max Williamson, Grant Gilchrist; Matt Fagerson, Rory Darge (vice-capt), Jack Dempsey.

Replacements: Ewan Ashman, Rory Sutherland, D’Arcy Rae, Alex Craig, Magnus Bradbury, George Horne, Kyle Rowe, Tom Jordan.

Jack Conan is wary of the threat of Scotland fly-half Finn Russell, describing him as a player who can “pull a rabbit out of a hat”. Russell was instrumental in Scotland’s thrilling 50-40 win over France at Murrayfield last weekend and will look to have a similar impact when Gregor Townsend’s side face Ireland at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday. Both sides are eyeing up the Triple Crown and have an outside chance of a championship title.

Ireland have named their side to face Scotland:

IRELAND: Jamie Osborne; Rob Baloucoune, Garry Ringrose, Stuart McCloskey, Tommy O’Brien; Jack Crowley, Jamison Gibson-Park; Tom O’Toole, Dan Sheehan, Tadhg Furlong; Joe McCarthy, Tadhg Beirne; Jack Conan, Josh van der Flier, Caelan Doris (capt).

Replacements: Rónan Kelleher, Mike Milne, Finlay Bealham, Darragh Murray, Nick Timoney, Craig Casey, Ciarán Frawley, Bundee Aki.