Scotland v Ireland match preview, coverage & key stats
Guinness Men's Six Nations: Scotland v Ireland
Venue: Murrayfield Date: Sunday, 9 February Kick-off: 15:00 GMT
Coverage: Watch live on BBC One & iPlayer; listen live on BBC Radio 5 Live, BBC Radio Scotland Extra & BBC Sounds; text commentary and highlights on BBC Sport website and app.
Overview
Scotland will seek to lay down a marker in their search for a first Six Nations title by attempting to end a 10-match losing streak against defending champions Ireland.
The Scot's last win in this fixture was at Murrayfield under Vern Cotter in 2017 and all of their defeats since have been during Gregor Townsend's reign.
Ireland kicked off their title defence with a bonus-point victory over England in Dublin and were seemingly unaffected by the absence of their head coach Andy Farrell, who is on British and Irish Lions duty.
The Irish are buoyed by their impressive recent record with 13 wins from their last 14 Six Nations fixtures, although that solitary defeat was their most recent away match in the championship, a 23-22 loss to England at Twickenham in 2024.
Scotland team news
Head coach Townsend makes three changes from the side that defeated Italy, with Tom Jordan making his first Six Nations start at inside centre, Rory Sutherland coming in at loose-head prop and Jack Dempsey at number eight.
Matt Fagerson switches to blindside flanker to accommodate Dempsey's return, while Pierre Schoeman, Jamie Ritchie and Stafford McDowell drop to the bench.
Lock Sam Skinner and scrum-half Jamie Dobie are included among the replacements, with George Horne and Kyle Rowe missing out.
Scotland: 15-Kinghorn, 14-Graham, 13-Jones, 12-Jordan, 11-Van der Merwe; 10-Russell (co-capt), 9-White; 1-Sutherland, 2-Cherry, 3-Z. Fagerson, 4-J. Gray, 5-Gilchrist, 6-M Fagerson, 7-R Darge (co-capt), 8-Dempsey.
Replacements: 16-Ashman, 17-Schoeman, 18-Hurd, 19-Skinner, 20-Brown, 21-Ritchie, 22-Dobie, 23-McDowall.
Ireland team news
Ireland wing Mack Hansen was ruled out of the game on Saturday with a hamstring injury and has been replaced by Calvin Nash.
In two other changes from the side that beat England, 35-year-old former captain Peter O'Mahony replaces Ryan Baird in the back row and Robbie Henshaw comes in for Garry Ringrose at outside centre.
Sam Prendergast is again given the nod at fly-half with Jack Crowley to be used off the bench.
Ireland: 15-Keenan; 14-Nash, 13-Henshaw, 12-Aki, 11-Lowe; 10-Prendergast, 9-Gibson-Park; 1-Porter, 2-Kelleher, 3-Bealham, 4-Ryan, 5-Beirne; 6-O'Mahony, 7-Van der Flier, 8-Doris (capt).
Replacements: 16-Sheehan, 17-Healy, 18-Clarkson, 19-Baird, 20-Conan, 21-Murray, 22-Crowley, 23-Ringrose.
View from both camps
Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend: "It's hard to break the cycle but once you've broken it, it just becomes another match.
"A lot of it is about what we would do differently, but we also understand that Ireland have been a top team now for a while and it's harder to break that cycle when the team you're playing against has been that good and has that experience."
Interim Ireland head coach Simon Easterby: "We're always continually trying to evolve, as are Scotland and they showed in the autumn that they can mix it with the best.
"It's been spoken about outside the camp but we're just trying to focus on getting our own game in order and delivering a better performance than we did against England because that's what it'll take to beat Scotland in Murrayfield."
Commentator's notes
Andrew Cotter: Two sides which bristle with attacking talents but the platform to attack only comes from powerful ball-carrying, where Ireland seem to have the edge and Scotland will simply have to match the visitors to have a chance.
The starting midfield partnerships are fascinating - Henshaw alongside Aki in a muscular Irish combination, while Scotland have gone for the skilful Jordan to start at inside centre beside Huw Jones. That's a pairing which looks promising, but is untried for either club or country.
Ireland certainly go into the game as favourites and 10 successive wins over the Scots will give them no end of confidence, but don't be surprised if this one is close.
Match facts
Head-to-head
The Irish have won 10 successive Test matches against the Scots.
Ireland's last defeat to Scotland came at Murrayfield in the Six Nations, a 27-22 round one loss in the 2017.
The Scots have won four of their 25 matches against Ireland in the Six Nations, losing 21.
Scotland
Scotland have won eight of their previous nine Tests since losing to Ireland in the final round of the 2024 Six Nations.
This is only the second time that the Scots have started their campaign with back-to-back home games after 2019, when they defeated Italy in the opening round before losing 13-22 to the Irish.
Since Sione Tuipulotu's debut in 2022, the Scots have won just two Six Nations games without him in the side, versus Italy in 2022 and 2025.
Huw Jones has scored a try in each of his last three Six Nations games against Ireland.
Ireland
Ireland are aiming to become the first side to win three successive Six Nations titles.
They have won 13 of their last 14 Six Nations fixtures, losing the other.
The Irish achieved the highest line-out success rate in Six Nations history against England, winning 23 of 23.
Cian Healy is set to win an Irish record 66th Six Nations cap from the bench, putting him beyond Brian O'Driscoll's previous mark of 65.
