Jamie Ritchie: Scotland ready to 'fire every bullet' to stay in Rugby World Cup

Having lost their opening Pool B match against defending champions South Africa, the Scots now need to beat the world's top-ranked side with a bonus point or by denying the Irish a losing bonus point.

Captain Ritchie insists the all-or-nothing scenario means there is no chance of the Scots - renowned for their attacking play - turning up at the Stade de France with any hint of caution.

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"I don't see it as the pressure being off, but I do see it as us not having anything to lose in this game," he said. "If we lose the game, we're going home.

"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. It is in our hands from now.

"So, the pressure is off in that sense in that we know where we stand and we're not relying on anyone else other than ourselves."

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When it was put to Ritchie that Scotland - ranked fifth in the world - do have their place at the World Cup to lose, he responded: "Yeah, we've got a game to lose as well.

"But I mean it in terms of, as long as we put our best performance out there, then if that's not enough there is nothing else we could have done.

"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."

Scotland failed to ignite against South Africa last month but Ritchie feels that will help sharpen his team's focus this weekend.

"It was always going to be one of those two games that we needed to have our best performance in and because we didn't play as well as we could have against South Africa, it's come down to this one," he said.

"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."

Ritchie is braced for the biggest match of his career.

"I'd probably say it's the biggest game of my career," he said. "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."

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