Rugby: Danielli has inside info for crunch with Ireland

Published on Tuesday 3 March 2009 09:06

FRESH from his try-scoring role in the win over Italy, winger Simon Danielli has offered to be Scotland's man behind enemy lines when Grand Slam-chasing Ireland call at Murrayfield on Saturday week.

Danielli, 29, is unique among the current Scottish squad in playing his domestic rugby in Ireland, with Ulster.

And that could mean an even more important part in the build-up to a match which sees Scotland try to take another step towards equalling their best-ever RBS Six Nations Championship return of three wins.

Danielli said: "I played with the Ireland winger Tommy Bowe throughout last year before his move from Ulster to Ospreys.

"If Tommy is selected I'd be chomping at the bit to play against him and the same applies to a couple of other guys who I know particularly well from the club."

Other Ulstermen currently starting for Ireland are centre Paddy Wallace and flanker Stephen Ferris, while on the bench are Rory Best and Tom Court.

Danielli's latest try was his sixth from 18 international appearances giving him a strike rate of 33 per cent – superior to the 25 per cent of fellow three-quarter Max Evans.

"A lot of the players in both squads know each other well from playing in the Magner's Celtic League," added Danielli. "But I might be expect to be asked about my team-mates at Ulster and I'll try to come up with insights even if, at this level, there aren't too many weaknesses to exploit."

Italian weakness in the form of slack marking off the line-out tail was directly responsible for Danielli scorching through to add to tries previously scored against USA (2), England, Japan and Italy. But, playing down his contribution, Danielli said: "It was definitely satisfying that my try came straight off the training ground and the coaches have to be given credit.

"They obviously studied our opposition to see where the holes and weaknesses lay.

"But I was the lucky one who got to run into the gap they had predicted would open up and on to the try-line."

Meanwhile, Scotland are set to make at least one enforced change to a winning side for the visit of the Irish.

Ally Dickinson is strongly fancied to step up with Geoff Cross figuring on the bench following the shoulder injury which has ruled prop Allan Jacobsen out for four months.

The Edinburgh ace had been tipped for this summer's Lions tour of South Africa but the injury, suffered in a scrum, appears to have destroyed his hopes.

But, as one door closes, another opens and the upside is the experience gained by former Herioter Dickinson over 12 tests, including last Saturday's win.

While "Dicko" may have been restricted to the final 13 minutes from the bench, he certainly made an impact, including a barreling run deep into Italian territory before a potentially scoring pass to Chris Cusiter was deemed marginally forward.

If some colleagues might have been surprised by the pace of the 6ft 1in, 17st 9lb front rower then count out Ally Strokosch.

"I've seen Ally Dickinson run like that hundreds of times at our Gloucester club, said Strokosch.

"Ally's quicker than most backs. Scrummaging maybe takes it out of him in a game but, if you give him a bit of space, he makes the most of it."

While blindside flanker Strokosch pondered just how fast his team-mate might be without the draining effect of toiling in the set pieces, he was keen to stress that those primary functions were the basis of the record win over the Azzurri.

He said: "We had a good platform to play off and everyone was doing their job with full concentration, particularly in defence."

In fact, Scotland kept their try-line intact against Italy for the first time in their eight visits to Murrayfield.

And Strokosch added: "There were some positives and some negatives but the bottom line is we got the win which was pretty much the only thing that mattered and, if anybody had offered us that margin beforehand, we'd have grabbed it with both hands."

Next up for nine times capped Strokosch is a visit from the side against whom his Six Nations career began, Ireland. But the former Boroughmuir ace notes that the challenge will be different this time round.

He said: "Ireland have switched to the coaching of Declan Kidney but, while he has achieved a lot of success the Munster way (the reigning European champions have a strong reputation for forward-dominated tactics), it is important to remember their exciting runners at the back if we are to progress from beating Italy to another couple of wins."