Ireland assistant Les Kiss expecting tight Scotland affair

Ireland assistant coach Les Kiss has talked up tomorrow's Six Nations showdown with Scotland as a "cracker", but also warned that it could be a tight affair at Murrayfield.

Ireland are chasing back-to-back Six Nations titles for the first time but have to better England's result against France by eight points or more and hope that Wales don't better their result by 22 points or more against Italy to be crowned champions.

Kiss said that both sides are under pressure with Ireland chasing the championship and Scotland looking for their first win of the tournament.

"We just want to make sure we keep the script in terms of approaching our preparation in a way that makes sure we can build on each performance," Kiss told reporters.

"With that comes our own pressure from ourselves to be as good as we can.

"I wouldn't try to speculate on their pressure. We know that this is a Test match and it's a difficult proposition against Scotland. I've been there enough times to know that they are tight affairs, especially over here."

In their first Six Nations under Kiwi coach Vern Cotter, Scotland have held their own in all four games and only have a -25 points difference despite losing each one.

"I think there's some really positive things that Scotland have put forward into their game since Vern's come on board," added Kiss. "They can work well from set pieces, without a doubt, they can launch effective attack platforms from those areas, but in the loose they are dangerous.

"When you've got [Stuart] Hogg at the back who can do some damage, [Tommy] Seymour's in really sublime form. Finn Russell (who was suspended for two weeks) was a loss for them mid-championship because he's a real good marshaller of the game.

"You don't want to give them cheap stuff because if you do they can hurt you massively."

Ireland need the game to not be so tight as it will hurt their chances of clinching the title. Kiss was pleased after inspecting the Murrayfield surface this afternoon and suggested that the game could be enthralling.

"You can see the changes they've made to the pitch," he said. "You can see that it's a really good pitch now and the conditions look like they're going to be superb. We may be in for a cracker."

Tomorrow's finale is a staggered kickoff, with Wales taking on Italy in Rome first at 12.30pm before Ireland's tussle with Scotland at 2.30pm is followed by England's meeting with France at 5pm.