Ireland are not distracted by the prospect of a Grand Slam shot at England on St Patrick's weekend, insists Simon Easterby.
After three victories to date in this Six Nations campaign, Andy Farrell's charges have the chance to achieve what only three other Ireland sides have pulled off in the history of the championship.
But they have to beat resurgent Scotland at Murrayfield tomorrow to set up that golden opportunity and defence coach Easterby stresses that is all that counts for now.
READ MORE: 'They fool me all the time' - Scottish centurion Stuart Hogg on facing Ireland
“No, this group is very driven to come here and put in a performance," Easterby said. "Next week will almost look after itself.
"We’ve had a couple of weeks to prepare for this, we know how tough it’s going to be and we’re not thinking past tomorrow afternoon and putting in the performance that will be required to get a result.
"It’s huge for both teams but there is silverware to play for both of us and there is some extra motivation potentially for Stuart Hogg with his 100th cap.
"He has been an incredible player for Scotland over so many years. We have one of our own reaching a landmark with Garry Ringrose winning his 50th cap and that is no mean feat in today’s game. There are lots of little subplots.
"We have to make sure we are disciplined and that we don’t let the occasion get to us, that we are accurate in what we do and that’s a challenge for both teams.”
Tadhg Furlong is making his first appearance since he was injured in early December, while Johnny Sexton, Garry Ringrose, Dan Sheehan and bench players Robbie Henshaw, Jamison Gibson-Park and Cian Healy are returning from injury.
Easterby says there are no concerns about throwing the frontliners back into the fray in such an important fixture.
"No, I don't think so," he claimed. "I think all of those guys are fairly experienced now and have a lot of games under their belt over the years.
"They've been constantly connected to what we're doing, even if they haven't been always training over the last few weeks so we certainly don't feel that there's an issue there.
"We also feel that we have a very strong bench to finish the game."
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