Six Nations 2013: Scotland v Ireland match preview Time for a change? Scotland have lost this home fixture against Ireland on the last five occasions, even if, remarkably, they won the previous eight before that. More worryingly, the last time they managed back-to-back wins in the Six Nations was way back in 2001, when they followed victory over Italy with a 32-10 thumping of Ireland. O'Dear Only Brian O'Driscoll and Ronan O'Gara remain from that match in 2001. O'Driscoll, although apparently privately miffed about losing the captaincy and clearly distracted by the birth of his first child just before the England match, is still capable of sprinkling magic on a rugby field. O'Gara, sadly, may have finally mislaid his wand, having been kept on the bench despite Jonathan Sexton's absence. Paddy Jackson simply had to be thrown into the deep end for a debut after O'Gara's jittery performance for Munster against the Scarlets last weekend. The missing link To put it mildly, Ireland have a few availability problems. They are missing Paul O'Connell, Stephen Ferris, Cian Healy, Mike McCarthy, Tommy Bowe, Sexton, Simon Zebo and Gordon D'Arcy. Scotland are without only Alasdair Strokosch and Euan Murray, but what they have found since the autumn is a cutting edge. The slowest of their back three, full back Stuart Hogg, scored a length-of-the-field try against Italy. Wings Tim Visser and Sean Maitland are seriously dangerous, and centre Matt Scott has been so good that he could easily be a surprise Lion. No choking If Scotland are not to choke the result against a clearly vulnerable Ireland, they must counter the visitors" famous "choke" tackle. Scotland were magnificent in contact against Italy, but mouse-like against England. Which on Sunday? If the former, then they could harry Jackson, as they did Italy's Luciano Orquera so successfully. Prediction Scotland. Just.