Scotland’s interim coach Scott Johnson has warned his side to expect a very different Irish side from the one they defeated at Murrayfield last year.
Ireland dominated both possession and territory in the first half of the 2013 clash but somehow contrived to lose the match 12-8.
Johnson, who steps down to be replaced by Vern Cotter at the end of the Championships, feels that Joe Schmidt’s men will not be so wasteful with their openings this time around.
Johnson told PA Sport: “I don’t think we can do the same again as we did that day. They will come out swinging at us so we need to understand that we have to be competitive in both field position and quality of possession.
“We know this and are not running away from that fact. If it goes down that road it will be a hard day at the office for us.”
Johnson knows that Scotland are still building after he inherited a struggling panel from Andy Robinson in 2012, and feels it will be two years before the Tartan Army witness the best of their team.
“There is a lot of growth in this team still to be done but I am happy that we have got a lot of competition,” he said.
“I have said all along that I want it to be hard to pick a national team and I can honestly say this was a difficult one for us to decide on. We had a lot of names on the table for certain areas and it took a lot of discussion.
“That’s a good thing for Scotland. This is a competition that we need and we want to be competitive in.
“If we are competitive and get some scoreboard pressure then it’s good news for us, because every reporter right now is asking every other coach ‘Do you expect to beat Scotland?’
“If we get on the front foot it only puts the pressure on our opponents.”
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