Ross has held off the challenge of Gregor Townsend and Brendan Laney to make his 6 Nations debut in Edinburgh.

The Scots have not lost to Ireland on home soil since 1985 but Leeds Tykes star Ross believes stopping O'Driscoll will be the key to another success.

The Lions centre scored a brilliant hat-trick in last March's 43-22 victory at Lansdowne Road and again he is the man who Scotland fear most.

Ross said: "They've got a big pack capable of winning ball and they've also got very good half-backs.

"David Humphreys coming in for Ronan O'Gara is not going to weaken them at all, and O'Driscoll is their key player in the backs and obviously in the last couple of years he's run Scotland ragged.

"We'll need to keep a close eye on him. So pretty much everywhere in their team they have strengths and we've got to try and negate that."