The China Mail - Tuipulotu says Scotland have 'been to hell and back' ahead of Six Nations title shot

The Scots will secure a first Triple Crown since 1990 should they beat Ireland in their tournament finale.

Victory in Dublin would also put them in Championship contention should the result between France and England in the concluding fixture of the tournament on Saturday go their way.

Scotland have yet to be crowned champions since it became the Six Nations, with their last Championship triumph coming when the Dark Blues won the final edition of the old Five Nations in 1999.

They looked anything but title-contenders in a dire first-round loss away to Italy.

But Gregor Townsend's men bounced back courtesy of consecutive wins over England, Wales and France.

Last weekend's remarkable 50-40 defeat of the French at Murrayfield -- which ended the reigning champions' bid for a Grand Slam -- has been hailed as arguably Scotland's best performance of rugby union's professional era.

"In certain aspects we've been to hell and back together," the Australia-born centre told a pre-match press conference on Friday.

"Where my strength comes from, or our strength comes from as a team, is the hard stuff we've been through as well.

"To be resilient in those times is what gives me the most confidence that we'll be the best version of ourselves tomorrow."

But in order to secure some long-awaited silverware, Scotland must end a run of 11 straight defeats by Ireland in all competitions.

- 'Act on your belief' -

"I've come to the Aviva (Lansdowne Road) in the past where maybe it seemed a little bit more like hope (than expectation)," added Tuipulotu. "And that's a credit to them (Ireland) as well, what type of team they are."

But the 29-year-old insisted Scotland were now a far more self-confident team.

"We do believe. We've built that belief within the group but you've got to go act on it now. We’ve talked about it throughout the week and now it's time to go do it."

Only three members of Scotland's matchday 23 -- Huw Jones, Finn Russell and Zander Fagerson -- know what it is to beat Ireland.

The trio all started in a 27-22 Six Nations success at Murrayfield in 2017, which remains the Scots’ most recent win in the fixture.

But Tuipulotu, who made his Test debut in 2021, said: "I think that's more of a pressure for them (Ireland) than us.

"They don't want to be the team to let go of their streak... They deserve the pressure of being the favourites in this game because of what they've achieved in the past."

C.Smith--ThChM