Easterby unsure about Ireland favourites tag

Men's Six Nations: Scotland v Ireland

Date: Sunday, 9 February Venue: Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh Kick-off: 15:00 GMT.

Coverage: Watch on BBC One, iPlayer & BBC Sport website, listen on BBC Sounds

Interim boss Simon Easterby says he is unsure about Ireland being labelled favourites for Sunday's Six Nations game against Scotland.

Given Ireland's dominance in this fixture in recent years, winning the last 10 encounters, many have tipped the champions to leave Murrayfield with a win.

But Easterby insists there is little between the sides and has called on his team to improve on last week's victory over England.

"I don't think we go in there necessarily as favourites when they had such a good autumn and a good win last week at home against Italy, and we're playing away from home," said Easterby.

"It's finely balanced in terms of favourites, underdogs, I don't think there's that much in it at the moment.

"We just know we have to be a lot better than we were last weekend in a lot of areas because of the threats they have and their ability to play attacking rugby, but also the way they can stop teams playing as well."

Easterby has made just two changes for the Scotland game, bringing in Peter O'Mahony and Robbie Henshaw while retaining Sam Prendergast at fly-half ahead of Jack Crowley.

The battle between the out-halves has attracted intense debate, but Easterby believes the attention is "part of their growth".

"Jack had a bit more of that last year throughout the Six Nations and dealt with it really well.

"He's also had a period of not being selected every week so that's a different dynamic to what Sam's going through at the moment.

"But they would share experiences with each other. Jack's been through that and we're fortunate to have Johnny [Sexton] in camp as well to impart some of his experiences in that position over the years, his battles with ROG [Ronan O'Gara] and how that developed over time."

Easterby added: "They're pretty comfortable in their own skin. They are down to earth, level-headed, extremely competitive and ambitious but understanding as well that there are ebbs and flows in life, in games and your selection.

"They're just figuring out a the moment how to get through that and we're supporting them the best we can."