Scotland are quietly confident ahead of their big Rugby World Cup Pool B clash against Ireland on Saturday evening in Paris.

While the match will be the last in Pool B, it is pretty much a knockout game in a sense as depending on the result, either Scotland, Ireland or South Africa will be eliminated from the World Cup.

Scotland will go into the game with not having the best record against the number one ranked Irish as they have won just once in their last ten outings against the team from the Emerald Isles.

Their last win came in 2017 with a 27-22 victory, but having said that, this current Scottish team is the best one to compete at a World Cup to date and they have the potential to cause a big upset.

Darcy Graham - Julian Finney - World Rugby/World Rugby via Getty Images

The Scottish coach, Gregor Townend, who himself played at a World Cup as a flyhalf said that they Irish are the world number ones for a good reason and they will be confident after their 13-8 win against the Springboks.

“I am not going to answer that question. Ireland are the number one team in the world, they are on the back of 16 consecutive wins so I'm sure they aren't thinking about what has happened in previous tournaments.

“They have got a lot of confidence in how they have played over the last two or three years and they'll take a lot of confidence from the last game they managed to get a win there South Africa match.”

Saturday night's huge game at Stade de France kicks off at 21:00.

Willie le Roux - Johan Orton

Meanwhile, the Boks are enjoying some time away from the game following their gruelling 49-18 win against Tonga on the weekend in their last Pool B game.

The Boks played for four weeks on the bounce and they are enjoying their bye, which is important before potentially playing in the quarter-finals next weekend.

The Boks will use this time to rechange physically as well as mentally, while also analysing the Pool A teams France, the All Blacks and Italy, who they could all face in the quarter-finals.

The Director of Rugby, Rassie Erasmus, said as matters stand, they are in a good position.

“We have got two weeks off where we can analyse all three teams that we can possibly play. I always thought the Ireland-Scotland game was going to be nervy, just like the France-Italy game will be nervy.

“I know everybody writes off Italy and though Italy are not used to playing against southern hemisphere teams they are used to playing against northern hemisphere teams. There are going to be some interesting permutations still in the rest of this World Cup.”

Meanwhile, the week’s action kicks off on Thursday night with the All Blacks up against Uruguay in Lyon, while on Friday evening France and Italy will lock-horns. Both games at OL Stadium will kick-off at 21:00.

Morgan Piek OFM Sport