Six Nations 2022: Ireland v Scotland match preview, team news & key stats - BBC Sport
Six Nations title hopefuls Ireland seek victory over Scotland on Saturday to pile the pressure on leaders France - match preview, team news and stats.
Last updated on .From the section Rugby Union

Coverage: Listen to live commentary on BBC Radio 5 Live and BBC Radio Ulster; text commentary and match highlights on BBC Sport website and app.

Ireland hope to snatch the Six Nations title when they complete their campaign at home to Scotland on Saturday.

Victory would move Ireland top of the standings but their title hopes would still rely on England upsetting Grand Slam-chasing France in the evening kick-off in Paris.

A win would also grant them their sixth Triple Crown in the Six Nations era.

Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend has dropped fly-half Finn Russell and chosen Blair Kinghorn to start instead.

Having only lost to France, Ireland go into the final round in second place in the table, two points behind the leaders.

Andy Farrell's side had to dig deep to overcome 14-man England last week but are clear favourites to beat Scotland after scoring 20 tries and only conceding three in their four games.

Scotland's campaign has stuttered after starting so well with a win over England, but after losing to Wales and France and an unconvincing win over Italy they will be hoping to finish on a high.
• None Ireland summon ghosts of 2015 in push for Six Nations glory
• None How France and Ireland can win the Six Nations

Mack Hansen is recalled to the right wing for Ireland in place of Andrew Conway who misses out with a knee injury.

Iain Henderson starts at lock, replacing James Ryan who went off following his head collision against England.

Jack Conan starts at number eight, meaning Caelan Doris moves to blindside flanker and Peter O'Mahony returns to the bench.

For Scotland, Kinghorn will make his first start of this Six Nations in place of Russell who is dropped to the bench.

In the only other change to the starting XV, lock Jonny Gray returns from his ankle injury and Sam Skinner moves to the replacements.
• None Maybe it's the rocket Finn Russell needs

Alastair Eykyn: "Ireland's title challenge is still alive. They know that if they take care of business in Dublin, they will have won the Triple Crown - and then it's in England's hands to do them a favour in Paris.

"The Scots haven't won in Dublin for 12 long years and this looks like another tough assignment for them. They might just be the team to feel the heat, as the Irish have promised to rectify their issues from a week ago.

"Despite their record victory at Twickenham, Ireland's scrum was dismantled, and their accuracy was miles off.

"Townsend has rolled the dice and left Russell on the Scottish bench. Much rests on the shoulders of Kinghorn, named at fly-half with only half an hour's action under his belt in this year's Six Nations."

Ireland head coach Andy Farrell: "We've put ourselves in a position to win silverware which is nice but as you would expect to me say it's just about this game isn't it?

"We're under no illusions that Scotland are going to be at their best with nothing to lose. They're a great side coming to the Aviva hoping to spoil a little bit of a party. Hopefully we're after our best performance of the tournament.

"We're growing in many areas, the experiences that we've had this Six Nations will certainly stand us in good stead for the next 18 months."

Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend on dropping Russell: "I prefer to focus on what Blair has done and how well he's played. He has deserved this opportunity with his performances throughout the season.

"He played 10 for us against Tonga and he has built on that performance with his club side. We thought he performed well off the bench against France and Wales and his last game for Edinburgh was probably his best game of the season, so we feel the time is right for Blair to start at 10.

"It's great to have the experience and ability of Finn on the bench as well."
• None Ireland have won seven of their last eight Six Nations matches against Scotland
• None Scotland's only victory in Ireland in the Six Nations was 23-20 at Croke Park in 2010
• None These two sides have met 22 times in the Six Nations with Ireland winning 18 to Scotland's four
• None Ireland have scored 54 tries in their last nine matches - averaging six tries a game
• None Ireland are the only team whose average breakdown speed is under three seconds at 2.88 seconds per ruck
• None Johnny Sexton needs 10 more points to overtake Ronan O'Gara (who scored 116 points) as the top scorer in this fixture
• None Flanker Josh van der Flier is the only Irishman to have played every minute of this year's tournament
• None Scotland have won five of their last six away games in the Six Nations
• None They haven't lost a round five game since 2016, which was a 35-25 loss away in Ireland
• None Only Monty Ioane from Italy has beaten more defenders than Darcy Graham, Ali Price (both on 13) and Stuart Hogg (12)