Stuart Hogg: Here’s how Scotland can shock Ireland and escape group of death

It’s a Herculean challenge: Scotland must defeat the world No 1 side in Paris to avoid a World Cup exit, writes Stuart Hogg. But our columnist says if captain Jamie Ritchie can outmuscle Peter O’Mahony early on and the defence can find a way to stop the genius of Johnny Sexton, they might just stand a chance

Jamie Ritchie, of Scotland, will have a key role up against Ireland’s Peter O’Mahony (Getty)

This match against Ireland is the biggest game in a long, long time for Scotland. Pool B was talked about as the pool of death and one of either Ireland, Scotland and South Africa could potentially go home. This is what you want – the drama on the last weekend of the pool stages.

This Scotland side doesn’t deserve to be heading home at this stage. This side that has been building for the last four years doesn’t deserve to not be playing knockout rugby at the World Cup. It is just so unfortunate with the way the draw lies and the pool stages have played out that one of the top five teams in the current rankings isn’t going to be involved in the next stage.

As a player, you have to approach this game with the exact same mentality as any other. There will obviously be a little more tension due to what is on the line but you can’t concentrate on that. Everybody will be aware of the ramifications after 80 minutes, but I know that Scotland will only be focused on the start of the game and making sure that they get that area of it right. Ireland are notorious fast starters; those first 20 minutes could be the best rugby we’ve seen so far at this World Cup.