It's been a tough week but Joe Schmidt is remaining positive. After defeat to England and yet more players falling to injury it's fair to say that the atmosphere around this Ireland team has changed quite a bit in a week but, against Scotland tomorrow (2.15pm – you can follow via The Irish Times liveblog from 1.30pm), they have the chance to answer back. And, as Gerry Thornley writes, Schmidt has kept an upbeat air around Carton House in this trying week. Ireland have made five changes for the Murrayfield clash with Robbie Henshaw yesterday becoming the latest injury victim. He's been replaced by Chris Farrell and you can get to know him and the rest of the Ireland team with our player profiles. According to Liam Toland the faults last week lay with Ireland's scrum and it is that which has to improve this week. Writing in his column Toland says "most scoff at the idea of scrumming and in fact poo poo the entire process, but the value of a scrum that performs and at crucial times prevents the opposition to perform is monstrously important." For Scotland, Saturday's match represents a major opportunity to lay down a marker and put themselves in the frame for some unexpected Championship glory. This morning John O'Sullivan speaks to Dan McFarland about Gregor Townsend and how he allows his players to express themselves while also sticking to a process. "Gregor loves an offload, he loves the ability to move the ball and play with opportunity, or have players looking for opportunity; all of it is part of the process," McFarland says. Despite his hat-trick of tries last week against Italy, Blair Kinghorn is demoted to the bench for the clash with Ireland to be replaced by Sean Maitland. You can find out more about the Scotland squad with our player profiles and you can get all of the information you need ahead of the big game here.
Moving on and the big news yesterday was that of the equine flu outbreak which has thrown the British racing industry into turmoil with no meetings to take place until Wednesday at least. Three horses, who had been vaccinated for the highly contagious virus, as is required for all racehorses in training, tested positive for the flu at the stables of Grand National-winning trainer Donald McCain, in Cheshire and the fear now is that it may impact on the Cheltenham Festival which is in four weeks time. Officials there are confident the week won't be put under threat but this does represent the biggest blow to British racing since the outbreak of foot and mouth disease in 2001. Irish racing continues as normal with one meeting today at Dundalk where the first is off at 5pm.
On to soccer and Liverpool will have the chance to re-take top spot in the Premier League tomorrow when they take on Bournemouth at Anfield at 3pm. Jürgen Klopp's side have a game in hand on Manchester City and can go three points clear with Pep Guardiola's men meeting Chelsea in the League Cup final on Sunday. Yesterday David Silva said Liverpool's four dropped points in the space of a few days against Leicester and West Ham gave City the boost they needed to battle back and see off Everton on Wednesday. Closer to home, Stephen Kenny will name his first Ireland under-21 squad for their European Championship qualifiers next month but he says that it's hard to say how many domestic players will make it after watching them beat an Irish amateur team in Whitehall yesterday. Meanwhile, work will resume on Finn Harps' new stadium in Donegal this year, providing a huge boost to the club as they look forward to their return to Premier Division football next week.
In GAA Seán Moran reports that the Sigerson Cup semi-finals may have to be moved due to a fixture clash. A meeting today will decide if the collegiate games will be switched to next Sunday to avoid a clash with the All-Ireland club football semi-finals on Saturday, February 16th.
