Scotland have taken the precaution of despatching assistant coach Mike Hendrick to Dublin ahead of today's European Championship third-place play-off with Ireland. Officially Hendrick will be helping the Scotland under-17s prepare for this weekend's European Cup matches, but such is his dismal record in recent encounters between the two sides, the excursion could also be for superstitious reasons.

Hendrick failed to defeat Scotland in 10 matches while Ireland coach, yet as soon as he followed the adage "if you can't beat them, join them", the Irish turned the tables in Zimbabwe last April.

Ireland, who lost third place to Scotland in both the 1997 ICC Trophy and 1998 European Championship, have omitted Owen Butler and Ryan Haire from the team that beat Italy on Tuesday.

Ireland: McCallan (Capt), White, A Joyce, D Joyce, Dunlop, Archer, Mooney, Rutherford (wk), Cooke, Dwyer, McCoubrey.