Ireland duo winning fitness battle to face Scotland in Six Nations title showdown

Nash and Frawley picked up injuries against England but are on track to feature against Scotland

Calvin Nash and Ciaran Frawley are winning their fitness battle to play against Scotland in Saturday’s Six Nations title decider, according to assistant coach Simon Easterby.

Munster wing Nash, who was forced off by a head injury inside five minutes of last weekend’s 23-22 defeat by England, trained with Andy Farrell’s squad on Tuesday, while versatile Leinster back Frawley came on to replace Nash at Twickenham but departed with a similar issue 10 minutes into the second half. He is understood to be undergoing rehab with his province.

“Obviously Nashy and Frawls have to go through the process and return to contact and then the return-to-play part of that is making sure they don’t have symptoms,” Easterby told a press conference. “Those symptoms would put them back a day, but they are both on track to be up for selection this weekend.”

Ireland's Calvin Nash came off injured during the defeat by England last weekend.

Ireland will retain the championship crown by avoiding defeat against the Scots in Dublin, while two losing bonus points would also be sufficient. Scotland can only win the title if they defeat Ireland by 39 points and do not concede any bonus points.

Ireland’s pursuit of successive Grand Slams was ended in agonising fashion by a last-gasp Marcus Smith drop goal in south-west London and Easterby insists Ireland cannot afford to “feel sorry for ourselves” ahead of a pivotal St Patrick’s weekend at the Aviva Stadium. “Expectation within the group is high,” he said. “Obviously the previous games during the Six Nations had been good, (but) we still feel there are things every week that we can get better at. We just didn’t get on the front foot enough versus England. We let them come at us and get momentum.

“We weren’t at our best, but we could have won it. It’s important we tidy that up, get over it, and there’s plenty to play for this week. Like any team that loses and has high expectations of themselves, they’re disappointed in how they performed. We can’t feel sorry for ourselves. We need to pick ourselves up for Saturday.”