Ireland v Scotland LIVE: Latest updates ahead of Six Nations title decider

It’ll be England’s Matthew Carley on the whistle for our Celtic clash this evening, an official now looking to kick on after a World Cup debut as a referee in the autumn. Here’s a little bit more about the whistler, who has two fellow Test refs to help him on the touchlines:

Ireland will host World Cup conquerors New Zealand and Joe Schmidt’s Australia during a mouth-watering four-match autumn series against southern hemisphere opposition.

The All Blacks, who beat Andy Farrell’s side 28-24 in the quarter-finals of last year’s global tournament in France, will visit Dublin on Friday, November 8.

Former Ireland boss Schmidt will bring the Wallabies to the Aviva Stadium for the series finale on Saturday, November 30.

Andy Farrell says Ireland have “battened down the hatches” in their quest to retain the Guinness Six Nations title after some players received online abuse in the wake of their last-gasp loss to England.

Ireland’s pursuit of successive Grand Slams ended following Marcus Smith’s dramatic drop goal in last weekend’s 23-22 Guinness Six Nations defeat at Twickenham.

Members of Farrell’s squad, including veteran scrum-half Conor Murray, were subsequently targeted on social media for their performances in south-west London.

Grant Gilchrist has told his Scotland colleagues to embrace the pressure of having to produce a positive response against Ireland as they bid to banish “a dark couple of days” following their damaging Guinness Six Nations defeat in Italy last weekend.

The Scots have been heavily criticised after losing 31-29 in Rome and squandering the chance to set up a title shootout with Andy Farrell’s side in Dublin.

Instead Gregor Townsend’s team are now chasing a face-saving result away to “arguably the best team in the world at the minute” in order to avoid potentially finishing as low as fifth in the championship.

Tom Harrison also gave his thoughts on the Women’s Six Nations, which begins next weekend with England again hot favourites to retain their title. Can anyone other than France challenge the Red Roses? Harrison admits that a more competitive tournament may be a must if it is to continue to grow.

There is a scenario today where Ireland secure another Six Nations crown despite having won fewer games than England. It is a quirk of the bonus point system that has drawn criticism from some quarters, but Six Nations chief executive Tom Harrison suggested earlier this week that they are here to stay.

There are a few whispers emerging from Ireland that today may be Peter O’Mahony’s final international game, the Munsterman perhaps preparing to retire after this tournament. The Ireland captain had his family at the Aviva Stadium yesterday and, while unconfirmed, signing off with another title triumph at home would be a special way to finish.

Scotland co-captain Rory Darge hopes channelling the dejection of a shock defeat to Italy can help topple title-chasing Ireland and clinch an overdue Triple Crown.

Gregor Townsend’s side run out in Dublin on Saturday seeking to salvage silverware from a Guinness Six Nations campaign which disastrously unravelled in Rome.

While Scotland retain an extremely slim chance of snatching the title, the consolation of defeating Ireland, England and Wales in a single championship for the first time since the 1990 Five Nations appears to be the realistic extent of their ambitions.

The Six Nations title is still on the line on Super Saturday after a shock weekend of results in the penultimate round.

Here’s the full schedule for this year’s championship

Ireland could secure successive Six Nations crowns with a positive result of any kind against Scotland on the final weekend of this year’s championship.

Wales and Italy kick things off on the final day of men’s tournament action for 2024 with both sides out of the title chase, before attention turns to the Aviva Stadium for Ireland vs Scotland.

Here’s what each team needs to seal the crown: