'Win at any cost must be Scotland message against Irish'

Ireland won 22-7 on their 2023 visit to Murrayfield

Six Nations: Scotland v Ireland

Date: Sunday, 9 February Kick-off: 15:00 GMT Venue: Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh

Coverage: Live on BBC Radio Scotland, BBC Radio 5 Live & BBC Sounds, with live text commentary on the BBC Sport website

Scotland must harness the "emotional intensity" of trying to topple Ireland for the first time in eight years when the sides meet in the Six Nations on Sunday, according to Irish legend Gordon D'Arcy.

The Scots have won just one of their past 15 matches against Ireland, in 2017 under Vern Cotter, and have lost 10 in a row.

Gregor Townsend's side opened their campaign with a bonus-point win over Italy at Murrayfield, with Ireland doing likewise against England in Dublin.

D'Arcy says Scotland need to use the pain of that long winless run to fuel a big performance.

"The Scottish team talk this week, it writes itself, doesn't it?" D'Arcy told the BBC's Scotland Rugby Podcast.

"It's beautifully simple and it's win at any cost.

"Ireland will not have the same level of emotional intensity for this match as Scotland will have. If Scotland don't find a way to harness that and get this one performance out of them, that will be disappointing.

"Ireland, when you've beaten a team X amount of times in recent years, you can't get everybody in and go, 'we hate them, but we beat them last year'. So you can't really have that same level of hatred.

"So the motivation for Ireland has to be way more dispassionate and way more clinical and almost methodical. What did Dennis Leamy call Leinster? Boringly efficient. That's the type of performance that Ireland need."

D'Arcy believes Ireland will continue their recent dominance over Scotland, but thinks if Finn Russell bounces back from a mixed performance against Italy to reach his top level, the hosts could have a chance of causing an upset.

"The competition between these two teams, it is well earned because Scotland have shown that they are able to score tries against Ireland," said D'Arcy, who was Six Nations player of the tournament in 2004 and won the Grand Slam with Ireland in 2009.

"They are able to match them, they just haven't been able to do it for long enough, consistently enough in games. And there's probably a frustration that comes with that.

"I don't think Finn Russell misfires very often, twice in a row? And he is such an important player for Scotland. If he fires, anything is possible. And that's always a concern for me, with someone like him, away from home.

"But there's a lot of experience in this Irish team. I'd like to think there's enough in there for a close enough three or four-point win for Ireland on the road."