Borders rugby legend Alan Tait hoping luck of the Irish deserts them at world cup versus Scotland

Scotland's Alan Tait getting past Ireland's Paul Wallace and Kurt McQuilkin during a 38-10 Five Nations victory for the hosts at Edinburgh's Murrayfield Stadium in March 1997 (Pic: Andrew Redington/Allsport/Getty Images)

Head coach Gregor Townsend’s Scots, currently ranked fifth best globally, share a Rugby World Cup pool with half of the four teams ranked above them, the Irish topping the table and the Springboks being fourth, and will need to get the better of at least one of them to progress to the knockout stages of the French tournament, starting next month.

Daunting prospect though that might be, Kelso legend Tait, capped 27 times between 1987 and 1999, scoring 17 tries, is hopeful it’s not too tall an order for the 33-man Scottish squad named yesterday, August 16.

Asked to rate his old side’s chances of getting out of a group also home to Tonga and Romania, Tait, currently head coach at Fosroc Super Series side Southern Knights, said: “I think they’ll actually tick away nicely.

Scotland's Alan Tait being tackled by Ireland's Dion O'Cuinneagain during a 30-13 Five Nations win for the hosts at Edinburgh's Murrayfield Stadium (Pic: Jamie McDonald/Allsport/Getty Images)

“The pressure’s kind of off them as all eyes will be on Ireland and South Africa.

“I’m hoping that Ireland might be overcooked. I think they might have just peaked too early, back in the Six Nations. They might just have left too much there and could struggle to get up again.

“Ireland might be the team, of the two of them, that Scotland can catch on their day.

“South Africa are going to be tough to beat, as they always are, so Ireland might struggle more to get out of that group. I just feel that there might be more pressure on them. Maybe that’s just me hoping, though.

Kelso's Alan Tait on the ball against South Africa during a 35-10 defeat for Scotland at Edinburgh's Murrayfield Stadium in November 1998 (Pic: David Rogers/Allsport/Getty Images)

“It’s a really hard group, we all know that, and it might well come down to the Ireland game, but I think Gregor might surprise them.”

Tait’s not reading too much into Scotland’s warm-up matches so far – wins at home to Italy in July and France this month and a defeat in France on Saturday gone, with one more to go, hosting Georgia at Edinburgh’s Murrayfield Stadium on Saturday, August 26, with kick-off at 5.30pm – saying: “It’s been a lot of the guys’ first games for months, and it doesn’t matter how hard you train, you need two or three games to get fit and into your rhythm.

“I wouldn’t be looking into it too much. I think Gregor will just be happy to be getting the guys out there and getting them off the field injury-free and moving on.

“Every nation’s the same. You want to get through unscathed but there will be guys getting injured, so you just have to hope they don’t include some of our big players.”

South Africa's Naka Drotske getting past Scotland's Alan Tait during the Springboks' 46-29 Rugby World Cup win in October 1999 at Edinburgh's Murrayfield Stadium (Photo: Jean-Pierre Muller/AFP via Getty Images)

One of the players Tait is hoping can make it to France and beyond without picking up further injuries is fellow Borderer Darcy Graham, now just ahead of him in Scotland’s all-time try-scoring list with 19, eight shy of Stuart Hogg’s record tally of 27.

“Darcy’s had a fair whack of injuries so hopefully he can get a run now and get left alone,” he said.

“He’s definitely a try-scorer and game-winner for us, there’s no doubt about it.”

Edinburgh winger Graham, 26, is one of two Borderers in ex-Gala stalwart Townsend’s squad, along with Rory Sutherland.

Graham’s currently on 35 caps and former Ulster loosehead prop Sutherland, 30, is on 25, the most recent being as a 55th replacement during Saturday’s 30-27 summer test defeat versus France in St Etienne.

This world cup will be Graham’s second and Sutherland’s first.

The two ex-Hawick players are joined in the Scottish squad, captained by Jamie Ritchie, by former Southern Knight Rory Darge, his current Glasgow Warriors team-mate and erstwhile Melrose prop Jamie Bhatti and Bath centre Cameron Redpath, son of Galashiels-born ex-national skipper Bryan Redpath.

Scotland kick off their cup campaign against defending champions South Africa on Sunday, September 10, in Marseille.

They then play Tonga on Sunday, September 24, in Nice and Romania on Saturday, September 30, in Lille before rounding off their pool games against Ireland on Saturday, October 7, in Paris.

It was back in February 2017 that Scotland last got the better of the Irish – winning 27-22 at home in that year’s Six Nations, thanks to two tries from Hawick’s Hogg and one from Alex Dunbar, plus three conversions and two penalties from Jedburgh’s Greig Laidlaw – and they’ve lost all eight matches against them since.

Ireland, unbeaten since a 42-19 tour loss to New Zealand in July last year, won 22-7 the last time they played Scotland, at Murrayfield in the Six Nations in March, Huw Jones scoring Scotland’s only try, converted by Finn Russell, and Mack Hansen, James Lowe and Jack Conan scoring for the visitors, with Johnny Sexton adding two conversions and a penalty.

The Scots’ last victory versus South Africa was by 21-17 in November 2010, also at Murrayfield, thanks to six penalties and a drop goal from Dan Parks, and they’ve lost their seven games since.

Their last meeting was a 30-15 autumn test win for the Springboks in November 2021, Hogg scoring two tries for the hosts and Russell adding a conversion and a penalty, with Makazole Mapimpi touching down twice for the visitors and Elton Jantjies adding a conversion and three penalties and further penalties being kicked by Handre Pollard at the double and Francois Steyn.