Scotland have best team since 1999 and will beat Ireland on Saturday

Scotland open their 2017 Six Nations campaign at home to Ireland on Saturday hoping to give their tournament title hopes an immediate boost against a squad hit with several high-profile injuries.

Glasgow hooker Fraser Brown has been given the nod to start in place of centurion Ross Ford for Scotland’s opening RBS 6 Nations clash with Ireland.

Jones scored two tries against Australia on his Murrayfield debut in November but was injured a week later when setting up a score for Sean Maitland against Argentina.

Speaking of experience, the biggest concern for Scotland as they prepare for the championship has to be the neck injury that has ruled Willem Nel out of action.

For Cotter, there is continuity from the autumn matches and the choices of Brown, Strauss and Wilson reflect Glasgow’s outstanding form of late, but primarily a feeling of “nervousness and expectation” among the squad is what excites him. And they won’t be short of confidence either, having ended New Zealand’s 18-match winning streak in Chicago in November.

Shane Horgan believes the key to victory for Ireland over Scotland lies in the back row, although noting that the Scots “could surprise everyone”. But also Wales, we know how those games are always pretty intense.

And that was in the old Five Nations‚ when they played only four matches.

The athletic centre had a breakout season a year ago for the Stormers as well as Scotland but then injured his foot which hampered his meteoric rise to stardom.

In his final season as Scotland coach, Cotter will be hoping to convert plenty of promise and potential into veritable success before standing down from the national team.

Twice a World Cup victor and three times World Rugby Player of the Year, McCaw was in London to promote the Leicester Square premiere of the film Chasing Great, which documents his final season and record-breaking World Cup campaign.

“His stamina was the first thing we had to look at”.

WARREN GATLAND WAS an interested spectator at Ireland training on Tuesday at Carton House, with photos of the Lions boss – on leave from his position as Wales head coach – sparking some speculation that Joe Schmidt might have reeled in his session.

England begins the defence of its Six Nations title against France this weekend, so what better time for us to place a golfing spin on proceedings.

There are six weeks, 14 matches, and likely a whole load of drama before that could happen, and it’s often unsafe to make too many long-range predictions ahead of the northern hemisphere’s annual rugby tournament.

The Herald meanwhile highlights Scotland’s increased depth, with senior sportswriter Stuart Bathgate lauding the extra options the team now has in comparison to some recent years. “We’d love to be able to beat them but it’s going to take a huge effort”.

Edinburgh front-rower Ford has been a mainstay of the Dark Blues line-up for more than a decade.

There are plenty of try-grabbing contenders for places in the back-row. There is a received opinion within Scottish rugby that success came too easily to him and that he has been overtaken by his younger brother, but over the past year or so he seems to have been inspired by Jonny into upping his game.