Star Metro - Scotland boss Townsend says Six Nations title 'out of our hands'

The Scots head into the final round "Super Saturday" clash as one of three contenders, together with leaders France and third-placed Ireland.

Townsend's men, who face Ireland in Dublin in the 1410 GMT kick-off, need to better France's points haul against England in the evening match in Paris to be crowned champions.

Defeat for both Scotland and France would give Ireland a chance to snatch the title.

Scotland have never finished higher than third in the Six Nations era and were last crowned champions when winning the final Five Nations tournament, in 1999.

Townsend was asked by reporters if he had thought much about the title.

"No. It's out of our hands, really," he said.

"We can only do a certain amount."

"It would be great to finish the championship with a win and finish on a high.

"That will obviously carry on the momentum and if that means we win the game, we obviously know there's something at stake."

Scotland suffered a lacklustre first-round loss away to Italy.

But they bounced back with wins over England and Wales before running in seven tries during a remarkable 50-40 win over France at Murrayfield last weekend, which ended the defending champions' quest for a Grand Slam.

"That performance (against France) was close to the best that we've seen from this group and from probably any Scotland team," Townsend said.

"The expectations might be there to repeat that performance in Dublin but what we want to see from it is, 'Are they physically ready?'

"We've seen them at training this week, we've done some contact work yesterday, and they're up for that challenge."

Scotland have lost their past 11 meetings with Ireland in all competitions and have not won in Dublin since 2010, but a win for either side on Saturday would secure a Triple Crown.

Townsend has made three changes to his starting side, selecting a new second row of Max Williamson and Grant Gilchrist due to injuries.

"I think the belief is there that when we get our game right, it can put pressure on any defence and when we get our defence in place, we can frustrate opposition," said the former Scotland playmaker.

"But this is a different challenge. Ireland seem to play very well against us, so that's what we're expecting.

"Their performance against England was one of the standout performances of this year's championship and if they deliver that, which we're expecting them to do, we're going to have to be very, very good to win."

T. MacDonald--SMC