The final time the two sides met was humbling for Scotland and they commence their World Cup warmups with a new backline and captainWorld Cups have not been kind to Ireland – seven have yet to produce a semi-final – but when Joe Schmidt and his coaches sit down at their headquarters external Dublin next week to consider the squad for this year’s tournament they will probably have the strongest hand of any side in the northern hemisphere.
Consecutive Six Nations titles suggest as much, but when Schmidt announced his starting XV to play Scotland on Saturday evening he confirmed it by picking 14 new faces from the side who ran out against Wales a week ago.
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Source: theguardian.com