The Glasgow player makes his first start for Matt Williams side after winning his first three caps as a replacement, in place of skipper Chris Paterson who moves to full-back.

The Australian-born player, who qualifies to play for Scotland through his grandparents, insists he is now ready to stamp his own mark on the Scots troublesome number 10 position.

He said: I wasnt really disappointed at not starting against France last week, I was more excited because I was back in the 22 after missing out against Italy. But as it turned out I got a decent run-out of about 25 minutes.

Now Im looking forward to the game against Ireland immensely and just like any Test match its a huge honour.

For me, this game is about not starting on the bench. Its a lot harder to come off the bench because youve got to adapt to the speed of the match but hopefully this week I can adjust early and get into the game and get things going for us.

Im anxious as I always am to do my best, to try and get us on the front foot and try and get us in the right parts of the field.

Weve shown in games that when we do get shape we can look quite good. The problem is we just dont put it together for a full 80 minutes or an extended period.

So hopefully, if I can get some sort of shape going with the team then hopefully we can get some points on the board.