As the greatest Six Nations championship of the modern era reaches its conclusion, a day of compelling drama awaits as Scotland, Ireland and France all battle it out to be crowned champions.
Scotland will chase a glorious denouement in Dublin to put the seal on a championship which has had more twists and turns than the River Liffey which winds its way through the heart of this old city.
The Guinness factory is situated at St James’s Gate on the banks of the Liffey and Scotland fans would love nothing more than to sink a few pints of the black stuff tonight to toast a first win here since 2010.
There will be plenty of them, too. Speaking to people involved in ticket sales on both sides, there could be upwards of 15,000 Scots in Dublin. Walking through the Temple Bar area yesterday on the way out to the stadium, there was a distinctly Caledonian twang in the air.
There is always a strong Irish contingent at the Cheltenham Festival at this time of year. But, on St Patrick’s weekend, Dublin will see a Scottish invasion as Gregor Townsend’s men seek to jump one final hurdle.
Scotland know it is out of their hands. Even if they were to beat Ireland, they would still be relying on England to do them a favour against France in Paris later tonight.
But the significance of this match does not rest solely on whether or not Scotland finish as champions. There is something deeper-rooted in this final round of fixtures.
Gregor Townsend celebrates with Sione Tuipulotu after the victory over France
There is almost something poetic in that it should be Ireland who stand in Scotland’s way. The green machine, Townsend’s nemesis, no victories during his time in charge, only 11 straight defeats.
We all know the record. A chance like this may never come around again. The fact that this is Scotland’s biggest match in a generation makes that clear.
This is a day when Townsend and his players need to finally banish their demons against Ireland – or risk being haunted by them forever.
Ireland have long viewed Scotland as their own personal punchbag. You can imagine players in the Ireland dressing room giving the old Alex Ferguson speech about facing Tottenham. ‘Lads, it’s Scotland…’
Earlier this week, an article was published in one of the national newspapers in Ireland which stated that ‘sniggering at Scotland’s expense has almost become a national pastime.’
Ouch. The very notion that Scotland could go to Dublin and win is viewed as apocalyptic among Irish rugby folk; it cannot happen, it must not happen, not today, not when there is a championship to win.
Townsend was asked about those comments this week and the level of disdain in which Scotland are held by the Irish rugby public.
He was never going to go full Kevin Keegan – I would love it if we beat them! That’s not his style. He was extremely cautious with what he said in response.
But even though he struck a very measured tone, the point still stands that Scotland under Townsend are viewed as a joke by the majority of people in Ireland. That’s just how it is.
They see us as a team who simply cannot deliver in big moments. Too mouthy, all talk and no trousers. When you dig into the numbers, it’s little wonder.
In those 11 matches under Townsend’s command since 2017, Scotland have been ahead for only 65 minutes of 880 minutes of rugby. It is a truly deplorable record.
Ireland’s dominance over Scotland is almost based on muscle memory as much as anything else. They are the one team, above all others, who have caused the most pain and humiliation of the Townsend era. Bar none.
But they are not the force of old. Still a fine team, no question. But not the all-conquering force they were two or three years ago.
Their scrum has been a weakness throughout the championship and they also have problems at fly-half. For all they were brilliant in beating England at Twickenham, they have looked a bit scratchy in the other matches.
In seeking to stop Scotland’s holy trinity in midfield – Finn Russell, Sione Tuipulotu and Huw Jones – Ireland will look to slow the game down at the breakdown.
Earlier this week, Brian O’Driscoll branded Russell a ‘rugby genius’ and one of the greatest players he’s ever seen. High praise, indeed, from a man who is basically God in Irish rugby.
Russell might not have many more cracks left at this. He is 33 now and will be 35 by the time he reaches the World Cup in 18 months’ time. This could well be his penultimate Six Nations.
The Scotland fly-half spoke earlier this week about how winning the Six Nations would be the highlight of his career if Scotland can do it.
Scotland’s world-class No 10 Finn Russell will be key to their hopes against Ireland
This could be a day when he not only wins major silverware, but also rubber stamps his credentials as World Player of the Year.
Over these past few weeks, we have seen all manner of stunning upsets, but none with quite the same wow factor as Scotland’s win over France at Murrayfield.
If they can follow that with victory this afternoon, the roars would echo all the way from The Aviva to the shores of Dublin Bay.
In conversation on Daily Mail Sport’s podcast earlier this week, former Scotland international Hugo Southwell told a nice story about that win and what it meant to the players.
‘Playing at Croke Park, in an unbelievable atmosphere, it was probably one of our most satisfying days,’ he said. ‘It was nice to see the Ireland players crying into their soup at the post-match meal.’
It probably wouldn’t be soup on the menu tonight. Instead, a large slice of humble pie would be served to all those – this correspondent included – who felt Townsend’s time was up.
Whilst the criticism was justified at the time after Argentina in the autumn and Italy a few weeks ago, he has the chance to prove beyond all doubt that we were wrong to believe he could not turn this around.
But if his team are simply swatted aside as an irrelevance by Ireland, as they have been so often in the past, one massive step forward against France last week would be followed by three back in the opposite direction.
This is the final frontier for Townsend. For the first time in the Six Nations era, Scotland go into the last day with a chance of winning the championship.
He needs to finally crack the code. Ireland are his kryptonite. As the glint of green shines bright on Paddy’s weekend, Townsend goes in search of a blue-chip finale on the Emerald Isle.
