Six Nations Championship down to the wire as Scotland spies first ever tournament win

Both Scotland and Ireland need to win against each other in Dublin to be in with a chance of tournament glory.

But regardless of which team goes on to lift the Centenary Quaich at the Aviva Stadium, both will be relying on England to overcome defending champions France in Paris, who’ll be crowned Six Nations victors again if a beleaguered England side doesn’t rise to the challenge.

Ahead of the crucial face-off in Dublin, Glaswegians are united behind Gregor Townsend’s side, claiming Scotland “stands a great chance” of seeing off Ireland, but the broader consensus was that England had "no chance of beating France".

An Irish visitor said: "I’m backing Ireland anyways but I don’t see England beating France unfortunately and then the championship is theirs."

Not completely devoid of hope, he still thinks there’s a chance "England can come through for us".

Meanwhile, Scots were keen to hold up Scotland’s heroic effort against France at Murrayfield last week.

"I saw the highlights of it and Scotland played really well,” said one, wearing the full-length Scottish Rugby wind breaker.

"I’m really hoping they can do what the did there in that game, but previously they’ve been really good as well."

Unfazed by the challenge of a performing Irish team in Dublin, a local man insisted he was more concerned about England’s performance in Paris than Scotland’s against Ireland.

Asked if he was "worried about Ireland at all", he simply quipped "Why should we be? We’re as good a team as any".

Others weren’t so sure - convinced that actually the challenge will be "really difficult" for Scotland.

"Ireland are a very good team, especially at home," he said.

"But Scotland are playing well - I was at Murrayfield last week when they played against France and they were probably the best I’ve seen them playing in a long time.

"So they’ve got a chance."

One shopper didn’t quite have the same level of confidence in her national team, introducing herself as "an English visitor".

Before she even heard the end of the question, "Can England beat France?" she laughed, "that’s just not going to happen".

But she does think "Scotland are in with a good chance".

Before any talk of England’s uphill battle in Paris, Scotland needs to drop Ireland romping to a fourth triple-crown victory in five years.

Scotland has never won the Six Nations tournament, which started in 2000.

However, in one of the more unusual twists of international rugby lore, Scotland was the final winner of the Five Nations tournament held in 1999 under the coaching of Jim Telfer.

Scotland matched England’s six points at the end of the tournament, but a 17-point difference in points scored crowned Scotland as the tournament’s final winner before the contest expanded to include Italy the following year.

Ireland has won the last 11 meetings between the two sides stretching back to 2018 and spanning the entire management career of head coach Gregor Townsend.

Scotland and Ireland get underway at 2.10pm on Saturday, but the Centenary Quaich victors will be left on tenterhooks for six hours until England has a chance to silence the naysayers in Paris from 8.10pm.