Ireland hooker Ronan Kelleher is relishing a crunch Six Nations showdown with “world-class” Scotland.
The Scots’ statement 50-40 round-four win over reigning champions France has transformed next weekend’s Dublin clash from a Triple Crown shootout to a potential title decider.
Whichever team is victorious at the Aviva Stadium will move top of the championship table for at least a few hours, before Les Bleus attempt to return to the summit at home to England in the final match of ‘Super Saturday’.
Kelleher, who made his first start of the tournament in Friday evening’s 27-17 victory against Wales, said: “Look, it is massive for us. We’re obviously really looking forward to next week now.
“We’ve put ourselves in a good position to win that Triple Crown. There’s still a chance of us winning a championship as well, which is always obviously the number one thing.
“But it (the Triple Crown) is still massive for us as a group.”
Kelleher toured alongside 12 Scotland players during last summer’s British and Irish Lions series in Australia.
“They’re brilliant players,” said the 28-year-old. “It’s obviously well-documented that they have world-class talent throughout their team.
“We’re just going to have to get back to work, preview the game and get ready to go.”
Ireland have won 11 matches in a row against Scotland but will no doubt need an improved performance to extend that run.
Following the jubilation of a record 42-21 success away to England in round three, Andy Farrell’s side scraped past a spirited Wales team which has now lost 15 consecutive Six Nations matches.
“We probably didn’t hit the same level, but I suppose every Test match is different,” said Kelleher.
“There were different challenges in the England match and we were unbelievably clinical and ruthless in that first half and kind of dug a bit of a score and managed to convert that pressure to points.
“We did a lot of good things (against Wales) and we got into the right areas, we just didn’t come away with the tries at that crucial time.
“It was a very dogged, very tough Test match and they obviously were never going to sit down and just take a beating.”