O'Mahony warns Scots they face backlash from 'hurting' Irish

Ireland captain Peter O'Mahony warned Saturday's opponents Scotland they face a backlash from a team that is "hurting" and desperate to secure the win to ensure they retain the Six Nations title.

O'Mahony and his teammates are under pressure to rebound from the 23-22 loss to England last Saturday which ended their dreams of historic back-to-back Six Nations Grand Slams.

O'Mahony did his side no favours by being sin-binned in the second-half and will be as motivated as anyone to redeem himself and cheer up the home crowd at Lansdowne Road.

They could even win the championship by gaining two losing bonus points against a Scotland side on the hunt for their first ever Six Nations Triple Crown.

However, they too are smarting after losing 31-29 to Italy in Rome last weekend and will need to improve considerably from the side that lost 36-14 to Ireland at last year's Rugby World Cup.

"We're certainly hurting from last week with certain aspects of the performance and losing, we don't want to lose, neither do Scotland so we're in the same boat," O'Mahony told reporters at his eve of match press conference on Friday.

'VERY PRIVILEGED'

The Irish will start as hot favourites. They have steamrolled their other three opponents this season, to make it 10 successive wins over the Scots.

Gregor Townsend's Scotland side's challenge looks even steeper with the Irish having won their last 18 home tests, the Scots last win in Dublin dating back to 2010.

It puts the Irish in a comfortable position and a chance to emulate head coach Andy Farrell's predecessor Joe Schmidt (2014/15) in winning successive Six Nations titles.

O'Mahony, with over a century of tests to his name, said he has told his players to enjoy the moment as he entered plenty of the final days of Six Nations tournaments with nothing to play for.

"I've been in plenty of games in the last game of the competition that we haven't been in with a shout," said the 34-year-old flanker.

"The position that we're in it's very privileged.

"What a game to be selected for and an opportunity to play for your country to win silverware.

"It can never be something that you take for granted playing for Ireland, especially on the last day of a weekend like this and playing for something as big as a Six Nations championship."

O'Mahony, who revealed he had not as yet discussed with Farrell about continuing as captain, said one of the bonuses he took from the team's success was the manner it inspires children.

There were plenty of young faces watching the team train at Lansdowne Road.

"They're always an inspiring part of our journey, the younger people," said O'Mahony.

"Even from my experiences as a younger person, looking up to the Irish team was always something I did and I've no doubt there's a lot of kids out there who look up to us.

"A big part of the responsibility of playing for Ireland is giving them something to dream about, like we did a long time ago."