Ireland have not been prepared to roll over and have their tummy tickled by any opposition but in making two changes to the side that started the 27-22 victory over England in Dublin last Saturday, Easterby has invited two pretty nuggety players to the Scottish party in O’Mahony and centre Robbie Henshaw and Andy Farrell’s temporary stand-in made no secret of the fact as he explained his decisions. Not that he was devaluing the men who will now occupy places on the bench, lock/flanker Ryan Baird and centre Garry Ringrose but of O’Mahony, Easterby said: “He was disappointed not to get the selection in the 15 or 23 for England. “So I think what he does do when he plays against sides like Scotland is he plays right on the edge, he's confrontational, he leads by example, other players will certainly follow that example.” The gauntlet has duly been thrown down to the Scots though Easterby also outlined why O’Mahony, who will be making his first start in his 111th Ireland appearance since last July’s first Test against South Africa, has remained such an asset to the squad, even when not playing. “He clearly loves being around the group, he loves wearing an Irish jersey. He’s done it to one of the best standards in his position over the years, that any Irish player has done. What is he? Is he 35? He loves being around camp because I think it just makes him feel a little bit younger than he is! “He’s so sociable, he’s one that won’t disappear off to his room, he’ll make sure that he’s in and around the group, so he knows how he can impact the group, whether he’s involved or not. “And I think that for me has been one of his biggest strengths, how over a period of time he’s cut the bullshit and just gone, ‘this is what I am, I’m going to be myself and I’m going to add as much as I can to this group’. “And I think over the last four or five years we’ve seen the best of him, beyond his 30-years plus, we’ve probably seen the best of Pete...not just in terms of on the pitch, because he hasn't played as much, but in terms of the way he's been around the group, and the way he has brought other players through and given confidence to other people. "That's been something he's really enjoyed and I think that's been the reason he's got that longevity.” Ireland will, however, need more than O’Mahony’s edge to get the job done. They will also have to thwart the home side’s undeniable attacking threats. Scotland captain Sione Tuipulotu’s injury absence was not damaging enough to derail their opening-day victory at home to Italy last Saturday but head coach Townsend has tweaked his midfield in readiness for the Irish by selecting versatile back Tom Jordan to plug the gap at inside centre this week, slotting him into a potent backline between Finn Russell and his Glasgow team-mate Huw Jones. Ireland have largely been successful in stifling those Scottish threats in recent meetings, the Scots having only managed 20 points against them once in this run of 10 straight defeats, back in the 2021 championship. Yet Easterby, Ireland’s defence coach don’t forget, was at pains on Friday not to dismiss the fact those threats remain and maintained they will take a lot of shutting down this weekend. He also reminded his players of the concentration lapses last weekend which allowed England to grab two late tries in the closing minutes and snatch a losing bonus point in the process. "Our players play against these guys regularly in URC or European games but certainly when they come together for Scotland it heightens our sense of, if we don't get our house in order defensively, they're able to open up and I think that's always the real challenge for this team, going up against someone like Finn Russell in particular, who is a little bit unpredictable. “It means we've got to have a heightened sense of awareness around everything in the game and we can't drop out of the game at all. We kind of did that a little bit at the end of the game against England. We dropped out of a couple of things at the end. We know that when we're playing Scotland over the last couple of years, we've had to be on it for the whole game.” It will undoubtedly be another tough shift for Ireland at Murrayfield on Sunday, with O’Mahony’s selection perhaps an incentive to the Scots to introduce some edge of their own against their public enemy number one. Whether that is what has been missing in their miserable run of form against the men in green remains to be seen but Townsend’s men are running into a team regaining momentum and attacking flow after something of a lull last November. If Ireland can repeat the performance they put in against England between minutes 34 and 71 in Dublin last Saturday for a lot long period this weekend, then Scotland’s wait for a first victory since 2017 will get longer again. SCOTLAND: B Kinghorn (Toulouse); D Graham (Edinburgh), H Jones (Glasgow Warriors), T Jordan (Glasgow Warriors), D van der Merwe (Edinburgh); F Russell (Bath) co-captain, B White (Toulon); R Sutherland (Glasgow Warriors), D Cherry (Edinburgh), Z Fagerson (Glasgow Warriors); J Gray (Bordeaux Bègles), G Gilchrist (Edinburgh); M Fagerson (Glasgow Warriors), R Darge (Glasgow Warriors) co-captain, J Dempsey (Glasgow Warriors). Replacements: E Ashman (Edinburgh), P Schoeman (Edinburgh), W Hurd (Leicester Tigers), S Skinner (Edinburgh), G Brown (Glasgow Warriors), J Ritchie (Edinburgh), J Dobie (Glasgow Warriors), S McDowall (Glasgow Warriors). IRELAND: H Keenan (Leinster); M Hansen (Connacht), R Henshaw (Leinster), B Aki (Connacht), J Lowe (Leinster); S Prendergast (Leinster), J Gibson-Park (Leinster); A Porter (Leinster), R Kelleher (Leinster), F Bealham (Connacht); J Ryan (Leinster), T Beirne (Munster); P O’Mahony (Munster), J van der Flier (Leinster), C Doris (Leinster) – captain. Replacements: D Sheehan (Leinster), C Healy (Leinster), T Clarkson (Leinster), R Baird (Leinster), J Conan (Leinster), C Murray (Munster), J Crowley (Munster), G Ringrose (Leinster). Referee: James Doleman (New Zealand).