‘Ireland v Scotland clash will be an arm-wrestle’: Adam McBurney
The dramatic climax of Pool B has been a major discussion point this week, with all three of Ireland, South Africa and Scotland still in the race to make the quarter-finals.
A bonus-point Scotland win of between six and 20 points, while also denying Andy Farrell's team a bonus point, would send them through and knock Ireland out.
One man who refuses to be drawn on which team he is supporting in the crucial fixture is former Ulster and Ireland U20s player, Adam McBurney, who now plays for Edinburgh and is qualified to play for Scotland through his grandmother.
The Ballymena-born hooker has friends in both camps and, although he stops short of predicting an outcome, he anticipates a grandstand finish.
“I know players on both teams and will obviously want those guys I’m friends with to do well, but I’m just really looking forward to what I think will be a really close game,” said McBurney.
“Both teams have been building with their performances so far. In Scotland’s first game against South Africa, they will have been targeting that game and just didn’t quite have enough to make it over the line.
“They had a few missed opportunities that they will look back on with regret, because teams like South Africa don’t give you many chances. Ireland took their chance against them to score a try and that was the difference in one of the best games of rugby I’ve seen in years.
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“Scotland now have a second bite of the cherry against Ireland as they can still reach the quarter finals themselves.
"They are coming into this one after an impressive 84-0 win against Romania. They were consistent and managed to keep Romania out the whole game.”
Andy Farrell's side will be buoyed by their dominant record over the Scotland, having won 12 of their last 13 meetings and have won a national-record 16 matches in a row following their 13-8 success over the Springboks.
“Ireland’s main strength is their consistency – everyone in the twenty-three knows their role and are well used to the system they play. They have limited errors and don’t lose possession cheaply in key areas so there are very few opportunities against them.
“Discipline and territory will be huge in this game. I think Ireland will plan to keep possession and force penalties as they work their way into Scotland’s 22 which is where they are pretty ruthless.
"Scotland will have to keep their error count low and maintain their discipline to deny Ireland easy access.”
Scotland will seek to disrupt Ireland’s unerring consistency and have more than enough quality to create problems for Ireland.
Indeed, McBurney notes that Scotland thrive in broken play and will utilize the attacking threat of the likes of Darcy Graham who impressed by scoring four tries in Saturday’s 84-0 rout of Romania.
“Scotland have an unpredictability about them which can be a massive strength if they can use it well.
“They can be dangerous, particularly on the transition when defences are unstructured and the dynamic back three get a chance to run with the ball.
“They can beat defenders and create chances - Darcy Graham is one of the in-form wingers in the world right now. If you give him any space you know that he will take it and can finish from anywhere, so they will need to close him down or they could be in trouble.”
Given how much is riding on the outcome when the sides run out at Stade de France, McBurney anticipates both sides will avoid risking too much out of the gate.
“I think the teams will be trying to figure each other out for the first 50 or 55 minutes and there is so much on the line that I don’t expect to see too much in terms of flair in the early stages.
“I think they’ll be playing for territory, showing a bit of patience and biding their time in the opening stages. In that last 20 minutes, I can see the game opening up a bit and we’ll probably see a few more scores on the board.
"I think it will be a bit of an arm wrestle for the majority of it and it will be whoever can control the territory and stay disciplined will come out on top.”
