I am looking forward to this afternoon's match with great interest. Despite the widespread belief that there are really two championships - England and France playing for the main prizes and the other three countries competing for the wooden spoon - there is still considerable excitement. When I saw the Scottish selection last Wednesday my immediate reaction was that their backline, with much more experience than ours, will be very difficult to beat. Players like Armstrong, Chalmers and Townsend, in particular, have always been superb Five Nations performers.

The most critical area today will be the manner in which O'Meara, Humphreys, McCall and Maggs compete with their counterparts.

The Irish management have made their intentions clear. The half-back pairing of O'Meara and Humphreys, ahead of Hogan and Elwood, suggests that we are going to move the ball wide and, I presume, play a quick-rucking game. The full back and wingers appear to have been picked on this premise, while the selectors probably felt that, in the absence of a centre of real attacking quality, those chosen present the best allround option.

The selection of Hickie on the left wing is interesting from a couple of aspects. Firstly he is left-footed and I would therefore consider the left wing to be his natural position. Secondly, it will not have gone unnoticed by the player himself that the left winger gets more passes when you have a right-footed out-half, as it is far easier for him to pass from left to right, just as it is easier for him to kick when moving from left to right. The inclusion of Conor O'Shea also gives us an added dimension in that he too is a natural left-footer. It is ideal to have in your full back and out-half players who can kick with both feet.

It allows attacking sides to use both sides of the scrum. I would be very surprised if we do not see O'Shea used at every possible opportunity this afternoon.

There appears to be very little between the two packs. I suspect that they will both try to play a similar style game. Certainly the return of Jim Telfer as the Scottish coach will probably do no harm for the motivation of the Scottish forwards.

The critical area in the forwards is the back row, both in attack and defence. I am pleased to see Corkery back in the side and if he can reproduce his form of a couple of years ago, it should improve matters. I suspect that the selectors felt that his aggressive qualities have been missed.

Scotland have recalled Walton at number eight, probably for his strength in driving forward - I will watch his battle with Eric Miller with interest. By all accounts Miller has been struggling since his return from the Lions tour on which he was an outstanding success.

He is an immensely talented footballer but, like a lot of others, he may have been exposed to too much rugby in the recent past. I was glad to see that his club rested him last week. He is an example of a problem which is going to face Irish teams in the future; namely how to get players to peak fitness for internationals when they are playing so much highly-competitive rugby. In the last few months there has been more in the media about the Irish management that there has been about the team itself and they will certainly feel under a lot of pressure today. They know that this match represents the best opportunity for points in the championship and that a win opens up far more attractive possibilities than the doom and gloom while will follow another defeat.

One worrying aspect about this Irish situation is the number of players used by the new management. I would prefer to have seen a smaller number of players used, and more time spent on developing the group than making continuous changes. Scotland have made changes, too. However, they have spent so much time together in the past and have been through so many tough matches that they will be less effected by this than the Irish side. The Irish team can be sure that they will get the traditional support at Lansdowne Road this afternoon. The performance on the pitch, however, will dictate whether that support is as vociferous at the end of the game. A good start will be vital, as will a sense of urgency in defence. We need to get amongst the Scottish players and not give them any time to settle into a pattern.

It will be close today and the result will depend on which side makes the most of the chances they get.

(In an interview with Sean Kilfeather)