That wonderful time of the sporting year is almost upon us, with the highly-anticipated Guinness Six Nations 2020 flying onto pitches as of Saturday afternoon. First up we have Wales v Italy at the Principality and straight afterwards there is the small matter of Ireland v Scotland – two countries who’ve had some brilliant meetings in recent years. It wasn’t that long ago that Ireland thumped Scotland in the Rugby World Cup while many of the players who will contest Saturday also played in last season’s Guinness PRO14 Final, as Leinster pipped Glasgow Warriors to the crown. We already know that Leinster will be the best represented province in the Ireland squad with eight starters and five more on the bench, Glasgow will likely have similar numbers in the Scotland 23. Going to the Aviva and winning will be a tough task for Scotland, as they look to bounce back from World Cup heartache. Congratulations to Caelan Doris and @ronank12 who are set to make their senior @IrishRugby debuts against @Scotlandteam this Saturday in the #GuinnessSixNations! 👊#LeinsterRugby #FromTheGroundUp pic.twitter.com/sK6oLgbpR3— Leinster Rugby (@leinsterrugby) January 28, 2020 To do so they will have to turn the form book on its head and thwart some of those Leinstermen who were excellent in that Glasgow final and excellent in club colours since. On that atmospheric day at Celtic Park Leinster prevailed 18-15 to defend their title in a pulsating encounter, thumping hit after thumping hit delivered throughout the 80 as every inch was clawed for. The only Leinster player in the XV on Saturday who didn’t start the Guinness PRO14 final is Caelan Doris, his meteoric rise this season something to behold, but those Glasgow players will again face Jordan Larmour, Garry Ringrose, Johnny Sexton, Cian Healy, Tadhg Furlong, James Ryan and Josh van der Flier. On that day in May, Healy and Ringrose got Leinster’s tries, Sexton the points with the boot – Scotland will hope not to see too much of those men on the scoreboard this time around. Matt Fagerson and Grant Stewart got the tries for Glasgow, and could be named by Scotland to play on Saturday, while Stuart Hogg, now of Exeter, had a torrid time and will be out to make amends.
