Warren Gatland and the rugby lads may not realise it, but when it comes to matches with the Scottish they have a lot in common with the Ireland cricket team. Not since 1988 has Ireland defeated Scotland at rugby, while our cricketers last beat the Scots back in 1993. That was in the inaugural Triple Crown tournament, which today begins its seventh season, at Castle Avenue and College Park.
So when Ireland face the Scots at Clontarf today - play begins at 11.0 a.m. - it will be very much a case of pay-back time for the Irish, especially since Scotland deprived the Irish of a place in the World Cup. In the day's other match, England and Wales will clash at College Park.
As is the case today, Scotland were Ireland's first opponents in last summer's Triple Crown campaign at Greenock. Skipper George Salmond won the toss, Scotland batted first, and ended up with a modest 160 for 9 off their 50 overs, with Matt Dwyer (3 for 29), Gordon Cooke (3 for 42) and Ryan Eagleson (2 for 25) doing the damage for Ireland.
Peter Gillespie, back in the squad after Kyle McCallan pulled out yesterday, apparently for business reasons, top-scored for Ireland with 55, Angus Dunlop and Stephen Smyth (who is with the Irish Colleges' rugby team in South Africa at present) scored 38 and 21 respectively, but their colleagues, allowing for the 19 extras, managed only 18 runs between all eight of them, and Ireland lost by nine runs. It was a loss that cost the Irish the championship as they then went on to beat England and Wales, ultimately sharing a meaningless three-way split.
Apart from Smyth, the only other absentee from the team beaten by Leicestershire last week for the three triple crown days will be Gerald Dros. The three added to the squad are John and Peter Davy, and now Gillespie.
Scotland, like Ireland, made a singularly tame NatWest exit last Wednesday, losing to Surrey by seven wickets in Edinburgh. But that should not be a cause for complacency: the Scots have the added experience of playing at the World Cup, and will be psychologically buoyed up by their recent record against Ireland.
Barring a miracle, Ireland were never going to defeat Leicestershire last week. But, by all accounts, a bit more joie de vivre on the part of the run-makers would not have gone amiss, while that snail's pace runrate said little for the home side's batting aspirations.
In the first two NatWest matches last month against the county board sides of Northumberland and Essex, Ireland did well to win both. That winning spirit, hopefully, was merely dormant last Wednesday.
IRELAND SQUAD: A Dunlop (YMCA) capt, B Archer (The Hills), N Carson (Instonians), G Cooke (Brigade), P Davy (Pembroke), J Davy (Pembroke), M Dwyer (The Hills), R Eagleson (Carrickfergus), E Joyce (Merrion), K McCallan (Cliftonville), D McGerrigle (Donemana), P Mooney (The Hills), A Patterson (Cliftonville).
