Scotland skipper Jamie Ritchie says his team “won’t die wondering” after tomorrow night’s World Cup Pool B showdown against Ireland in Paris. 
 
Qualification to the tournament quarter-finals is on the line, with Scotland needing to win by eight points or more whilst depriving their opponents of a four-try bonus point. It is a huge challenge against the top-ranked team in the world, who are on a 16-match winning streak, but Ritchie insisted that he and his players feel liberated by their belief that they have nothing to lose.
 
“As long as we put out our best performance out there then if that’s not enough there is nothing else we could have done,” reasoned the blindside flanker. “For me, that’s quite a freeing thought – that if we go out there and play to the best of our ability and if that’s not enough then it’s not enough.

“But I fully believe in this group of men in our group, and I know that if we put in our best performance then we are in with a shot.

“I don’t see it as pressure being off, but I do see it as us not having anything to lose in this game,” he added.

“We’ve been written off against the top two teams in the world but, for us, we’re not going to die wondering. We’ve got to fire every bullet in our gun, and we’ve got to go out there and play our best game, so it is in our hands from now.

“So, the pressure is off in the sense that we know where we stand and we’re not relying on anyone else other than ourselves.
 
“It was always going to be one of those two games [against South Africa or Ireland] that we needed to have our best performance in and because we didn’t play as well as would have liked against South Africa, it’s come down to this one.
 
“I’d probably say it’s the biggest game of my career. But that’s exciting. This is why we play the game, this is why we want to come to World Cups, for games like this where you have the opportunity to do something special.
 
“We’re super determined. We were written off by a lot of people going into this pool. It was always going to be tough for us to get out of it, but we very much have the belief and it’s still there ready for Saturday. We believe we can go there, do enough to get out of the pool and keep our World Cup alive.”

Asked if he is using the feeling of being written off as a motivational tool for the players ahead of tomorrow night’s game, Ritchie replied: “Not early in the week, but I might use it before the game. We’ll wait and see. Our motivation is very much internal. Our belief and where we gain our motivation from is what we think of ourselves and how we gee each other up

“The external noise can be fickle so taking motivation from there can be difficult. For us, it’s about our environment and our group."

Ritchie was named at blindside flanker in Scotland’s starting XV for this crunch clash yesterday afternoon, after progressing without hitch through his return-to-play process following a concussion suffered against Tonga two weekends ago.

“I was always comfortable I was going to be back and ready,” he said. “I’ve had a couple [of concussions] now so I’m on the 12-day turnarounds, but I knew that would be enough time.

“I was feeling fine after the game so it was probably one of those ones where we were erring on the side of caution in me being taken off. It was probably the right decision but after the game I felt absolutely fine and passed all my stuff and was ready to go.”