Ireland attack coach Mike Catt rubbishes Jacques Nienaber's match-fixing comment

Ireland attack coach Mike Catt has slammed the 'match-fixing' comments from Springboks head coach Jacques Nienaber ahead of their upcoming group game against Scotland.

Andy Farrell's men will be lining up against Scotland at Stade de France on Saturday and the result could very well be the decider for the two quarter-finalist from Pool B which was touted as the group of death.

Ireland will be needing at least a bonus point to make it to the next round while a 21-point difference margin victory for Scotland will take them through to the top eight leaving the defending champions South Africa out of the competition.

Following South Africa's win over Tonga, Springboks head coach Nienaber was asked whether Ireland and Scotland could combine to push his side out, he said: "“Could I believe in a scenario that they will decide ‘do we want to get this amount of points and then get South Africa out of the way?’ That would probably be match-fixing, I would say. I hope not.

“Rugby is clean. We wear those t-shirts so hopefully not because that would be extremely disappointing.”

Now reacting to Nienaber's comments, Catt said Ireland are determined to maintain their winning momentum as they look to face their Six Nations rivals.

"Firstly, I'd ask you, would we want Scotland to beat us by 21 points?" Catt said. "If you asked any player in this room, any of us, would they want Scotland to beat you by 21 points? No, sorry.

"Andy is fully aware of what's going and what needs to happen.

"Ultimately, both teams need to win the game. If you do that then you put yourself in a good position. That's what we will try and achieve."

Points Table: Pool B

Position	Team	Played	Won	Lost	Points
1	South Africa	4	3	1	15
2	Ireland	3	3	0	14
3	Scotland	3	2	1	10
4	Tonga	3	0	3	0
5	Romania	3	0	3	0