Scotland desperate to finish Summer Series on high
Following an opening day 31-17 loss to England, Scotland suffered their second defeat of the competition at the hands of hosts Wales losing 52-29 last Friday.
Having been 28-3 down after 36 minutes, Scotland rallied with four tries of their own, outscoring their opponents 26-24 over the next 44 minutes.
'We want to finish really strong,' the 20-year-old said. 'We've had some really good moments throughout this campaign, in the English and Welsh games.
'The vibe in camp is pretty positive. We've been doing mini challenges within the squad that keep the competition and excitement up.
'Another positive is everyone has gotten closer and closer as the camp has gone on, and we're really looking forward to kicking on into that Irish game and hopefully ending in a positive manner.'
Matchday 2 ✅☀️ #U6NSummerSeries pic.twitter.com/sWN48bIFPy
— Six Nations Under-20s (@SixNationsU20) July 11, 2025
At the Centre for Sporting Excellence in Ystrad Mynach, Caerphilly, Ceitidh Ainsworth scored just before half-time and then Freya MacColl grabbed a double after the break, either side of Poppy Mellanby's try to see Scotland show real fight against Wales.
Alongside that second-half performance, Scotland fought valiantly against England in Round 1 and enjoyed periods of success against the Auld Enemy.
MacRae acknowledged the challenge now for her and her teammates was to put together a complete performance across a full 80 minutes.
'A rugby game is never going to be perfect,' the inside centre continued. 'We're expecting that there's going to be mistakes from both sides, that's just the nature of sport.
"But we're looking to link up all those moments that we've had and be slightly more consistent with it.
'And if we can do that, I know for a fact that if we do what we've been doing in training, we can definitely bring it come Thursday.'
Ireland also go into the final round of fixtures looking to bounce back from a defeat in Round 2 where they were downed 41-12 by France.
But having won their opening match against Wales 27-10 and led France 12-10 during the first half last time out, MacRae is more than aware of the threat Ireland will pose.
'They've obviously got quite a lot of pace on their wings,' she added.
'They all have a physical pack but we're aware of how Irish teams play and we're excited to get stuck in.'
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