Kelly Brown passes fitness test for unchanged Scotland

RBS Six Nations: Ireland v Scotland
Venue: Croke Park Date: Saturday, 20 March 2010 Kick-off: 1700 GMT
Coverage: Watch on BBC One, BBC HD channel and the BBC Sport website; listen on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra and local radio; text commentary on BBC Sport website and mobiles

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Brown suffered a head knock in the 15-15 draw with England

Kelly Brown has passed a fitness test and will take his place in an unchanged Scotland line-up named by Andy Robinson to face Ireland on Saturday.

The 27-year-old flanker, who clashed heads with wing Ugo Monye in last weekend's draw with England, came through contact tests unscathed.

Robinson can now go with an unchanged side for the final Six Nations match.

He said: "We expected everybody to be fit, so the planning week has involved giving the guys more time to recover."

And Robinson added: "It's now about putting in a huge performance against Ireland. "Any win's important and any win gives you confidence.

"We're not seeing this as the last game of the tournament; we're seeing it as the next game for us."

We did some good things against England last weekend, but we have to look for improvements Scotland coach Andy Robinson

There had been speculation that Nathan Hines could be drafted into the back row if necessary, but any possibility of that was scuppered after the lock suffered a knee injury.

"Nathan's done really well for the team and he was looking forward to playing against Ireland as a lot of his [Leinster] team-mates play there," said Robinson.

Robinson refused to reveal whether Hines would have displaced Jim Hamilton in the second row had he been fit after the latter gave away a penalty trying to kick the ball out of Danny Care's hands on Saturday.

Indeed, Robinson defended the Edinburgh man's performance, saying: "Jim gave one penalty away and that was just after half-time.

"He'd spoken to the referee before the game and quizzed him on that and said that he felt that it was legal to do that from the response that he got from the referee.

"However, the referee interpreted it to be foul play in the game."

Scotland travel to Ireland bottom of the Six Nations table with a single point from four games and must win to avoid picking up the Wooden Spoon.

While Robinson has stuck by the side that came close to defeating England at Murrayfield, there are changes on the bench.

Interview - Scotland head coach Andy Robinson

Richie Gray is recalled to replace Hines among the replacements for Saturday's match, which is set to be the last ever rugby union match at Croke Park.

Co-captain Mike Blair and prop Alastair Dickinson have both recovered from concussion and replace Rory Lawson and Geoff Cross respectively.

"We did some good things against England last weekend, but we have to look for improvements against a well-balanced Ireland team who will be looking to bow out on a high from the final match at Croke Park," said Robinson.

"Some of the guys were challenged to step up and, across the board, I thought the players did step up and made the improvements we were looking for.

"There have been very encouraging signs, but it is about following it through and seeing games off. We improved last weekend because we got a point out of it.

"We've been a test for every side that we have played against. The key part for us is to develop that even further now.

"We've got to find that ruthless streak. At times, we have dropped off that in our accuracy and error count. It is about scoring more points than the opposition, end of story."

Ireland could still win the title should they beat the Scots and France lose at home to England.

"They've played really well the last couple of weeks," Robinson said of the Irish. "They have really gone for it in terms of moving the ball. They have played with real width.

"And they are a great side in with the fact that they can win ball from many situations."

Robinson thought the Irish were strong in the scrum but pinpointed the line-out as a particular area where the Scots will face a challenge.

MY SPORT: DEBATE Give your reaction to Scotland's line-up

"I think the back-row match-up will be pretty fierce this weekend and they have a player like Tommy Bowe, who is on fire," said the Scotland coach.

"Our line-out I have been pleased with, but this is our biggest challenge.

"They are very unpredictable in the way they set themselves up against you, which means they can win ball and, when they do win ball, they look after it.

"They have strength across the board. You have got to take on Ireland in every area.

"If we can get in their faces and put them on the floor and stop their big runners, gain the momentum then we can put them on the back foot.

"But when we attack, we've got to look after the ball and can't concede simple turnovers and the Irish are pretty astute at winning turnovers at the breakdown."

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Scotland side to face Ireland at Croke Park on 20 March

H Southwell (Stade Francais); S Lamont (Scarlets), N De Luca (Edinburgh), G Morrison (Glasgow Warriors), M Evans (Glasgow); D Parks (Glasgow), C Cusiter (Glasgow, capt); A Jacobsen (Edinburgh), R Ford (Edinburgh), E Murray (Northampton), J Hamilton (Edinburgh), A Kellock (Glasgow), K Brown (Glasgow), J Barclay (Glasgow), J Beattie (Glasgow). Replacements: S Lawson (Gloucester), A Dickinson (Gloucester), R Gray (Glasgow), A MacDonald (Edinburgh), M Blair (Edinburgh), P Godman (Edinburgh), S Danielli (Ulster).