Kelly Brown knows how much blood and toil is needed to beat Ireland in the RBS Six Nations because it was mostly his spilled when Scotland last achieved it.
The captain is acutely aware that it’s 12 years since the Scots defeated the Irish at Murrayfield and the same since Scotland recorded back-to-back wins in the championship, and is under no illusions about the task.
He was part of the team that won in the last match of Ireland’s stay at the home of Gaelic Games at Croke Park in 2010, when the Scots finished the championship with a draw against England and only their second win over Ireland in the Six Nations since 2000.
However, that game saw Brown leave the field three times as medical staff tried to stem the bleeding from a broken nose, although he was on the pitch at the end to see Dan Parks’ touchline penalty win the game.
“My main memory was going on and off all the time because the nose was quite badly broken and wouldn’t stop bleeding,” he recalled. “It wasn’t the first time I suffered a broken nose as you can quite clearly see and it definitely won’t be the last.
“I do remember being back on the field for the final whistle, that we scored a fantastic try through Johnnie Beattie, and that it was heading for a draw late on but Dan’s late penalty won it for us.
“It was a special day and a great performance and all we are hoping for is more of those kind of games and days.”
Scotland are at least going in a little more buoyant than they have been in recent matches against the Irish but Brown says that the focus is unchanged.
“The win over Italy has given us a big lift, but now the challenge is making sure we back it up. We’ve not won back to back matches in the Six Nations since I don’t know when. To win was great but we need to move on and we need to improve because if we don’t the last game will be a flash in the pan.”
Ireland come without several key men due to injury and suspension, with two novice internationals in the midfield and on the back of a dispiriting loss in the Dublin downpour to England, but Brown prefers to concentrate on what came before that.
“We’re clearly going to have to play better than we did against Italy to win again. Ireland were very, very strong in the autumn and they began the championship in the same way in Cardiff,” he pointed out.
“All the talk of who is missing for them doesn’t concern us. We can only play the 15 guys out there, we’ve studied every one of them carefully and there is no question that Sunday is a big ask for us.”
Even the presence this week of British and Irish Lions coach Warren Gatland at the Scotland squad training sessions has not turned the heads of the squad.
“He said he’s going to all of the home unions over the championship so I think all of us were expecting to see him at some stage,” said Brown. “I think we’re all aware there’s a Lions tour this summer and while it was great to see Warren, we don’t need reminding of it. Anyway we’re all entirely focused on Scotland and the Ireland match.
“Personally all I can do is work on playing as well I can to make sure Scotland are successful, and anything else that comes from that, great, but it’s not going to be my call.”
Brown added that Scotland have been working on four key areas of their game to the exclusion of just about all else during the championship so far.
“One is well-documented as being the tackle contest, but I’ll keep the other three close to my chest,” he said. “I think against England we were beaten in all four areas, and against Italy we won all four. We know that if we win all four, we’ll probably win the game, so that’s the aim.”
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