DUBLIN, March 13 (Reuters) - Scotland have earned the right to be chasing the Six Nations title going into the final day of this year’s competition on Saturday, captain Sione Tuipulotu said on the eve of their last fixture away to Ireland.
A win for Scotland would leave them in contention to win a first-ever Six Nations if England can do them a favour later on Saturday and derail defending champions France.
“There's obviously a bit on the line and maybe it's a little bit of foreign territory for a Scottish team to be in the last week and there still be a lot on the line,” Tuipulotu told a Friday press conference.
"We've earned that privilege. We're really excited about it.”
But in order to snatch the Six Nations, after putting themselves into contention with last weekend’s 50-40 home win over the French at Murrayfield, Scotland must beat Ireland for the first time in 12 meetings.
Then they will have to wait to see whether England can beat France in Paris and give them their first success in the competition since 1999 when it was still the Five Nations.
“The way I’ve put it to the group is that we've earned the right to be in this game and for those things to be on the line. But those things are not going to consume us or stop us from playing our game. We're going to go out there and live and die by our identity,” Tuipulotu said.
SCOTLAND USED TO PRESSURE OF HAVING TO WIN
“The main thing is the 80 minutes of rugby ahead of us, and it's been like that since the start of the tournament," he added. "We've been playing knockout rugby since we lost to Italy, so this is not foreign territory for us in that aspect.
“We've got 80 minutes ahead of us for us to take another step forward as a group and play better than we did against France. Hopefully that puts us in good stead.”
The Scotland captain insisted there must be a change in mindset from previous unsuccessful trips to Dublin.
"Maybe coming here to play Ireland in the past seemed a little bit more like hope, and that's a credit to them as well as the type of team they are,” he added.
“But we have been building this belief. You've got to act on your belief as well. There's no point in you just believing and then getting out there tomorrow and not acting on it.”
(Writing by Mark Gleeson in Cape Town; Editing by Ken Ferris)
