Gregor Townsend has challenged Scotland to banish their Ireland hoodoo earlier than their showdown on the 2027 World Cup.
Wednesday’s attract Australia pitted the 2 sides collectively within the pool levels of the worldwide showpiece for the third time in succession.
Scotland have misplaced their final 11 conferences with the Irish, with their final win coming within the 2017 Six Nations, just a few months earlier than Townsend took cost.
The winners of Pool D – which additionally contains the minnows of Uruguay and Portugal – are more likely to keep away from a formidable round-of-16 conflict with France, so the Scotland head coach is conscious of the significance of guaranteeing his group get to a degree whereby they really feel geared up to get the higher of Eire after they meet Down Underneath.
“It’s a better street to the quarter-finals and semi-finals for those who can win your pool,” mentioned Townsend, reflecting on the draw at a press convention in Edinburgh.
“We’ll respect all three teams that we’ll have to face, but obviously Ireland are a team that has beaten us pretty regularly the last few years, so we’ll have to be better to beat them.
“We have two occasions, one in Dublin, one at Murrayfield before the World Cup. The goal every year is to try and beat Ireland – and the other teams in the Six Nations – but it’s even more important now.
“It would help massively if we got on the right side of the results for a change. We know how tough it’ll be.
“Dublin in the last game of the (Six Nations) Championship will be a very difficult game, but we played really well last time we were out there (in 2024) and we’ll be doing all we can to win that game.
“It’ll be more difficult in the World Cup if we haven’t managed to beat Ireland in the next two seasons.”
Townsend recently signed a contract extension taking him up to the end of the World Cup. The 52-year-old won the last of his 82 caps as a player at the 2003 World Cup in Australia.
“That was my last games for Scotland and it was a fantastic tournament,” said Townsend. “I remember we played a game on a Monday evening against USA in Brisbane and it was a sell-out crowd.
“All of the video games have been nicely supported, they will run a event whether or not it’s Olympics, a Lions Tour or a Rugby World Cup.
“They’re a sports-mad nation, the stadiums can be implausible, they’ve acquired Olympics (Brisbane, 2032) coming, the climate can be good. It’s nice for gamers however actually good for supporters too.”
