SCOTLAND'S opening RBS Six Nations Championship match against Ireland may be 11 days away, but Matt Taylor, the defence coach, believes the mind games have not only started, but in fact began last week.

The pot has been simmering ever since Glasgow's European Champions Cup encounter against Munster last weekend, after which Connor Murray, Ireland's starting scrum-half, claimed that Glasgow players were trying to injure him deliberately when he was kicking.

With so many Warriors players likely to be selected for Scotland, the feud may well have reached boiling point by match day at BT Murrayfield a week on Saturday. Certainly, Taylor was in mood for conciliation.

"It's rubbish, he said. "Listen, I think people use various methods to try to get referees on their side. I think that’s maybe what they’re trying to do," he added. "At Glasgow, we’re a team who want to put a lot of pressure on the opposition. Munster and Ireland have a good kicking game, so we went out there to put as much pressure on the opposition as possible. We did that, and we did it within the laws – it’s really important to get that across. We did not do anything outside the law."

The accusation had also been dismissed by Gregor Townsend, the Glasgow head coach, last week but it seems clear that it is going to hang on and colour next week's Test match as well. With Munster also lined up as a potential European Champions Cup semi-final opponent if Glasgow can beat Saracens it could rumble on into April.

For Taylor and the Scotland players assembling in camp, there was a rare feeling of euphoria since 32 of the 36 players who turned up at the Oriam centre in Edinburgh are playing for teams who are getting ready for European quarter-finals a fortnight after the Six Nations ends.

Of the four who missed out, one is Huw Jones, who is playing in South Africa – though he has been linked with a move to Glasgow later this year – and the others are John Barclay (Scarlets), Jon Welsh (Newcastle) and Tim Visser (Harlequins).

"We’re excited that we’re playing at home and playing Ireland first," Taylor said. "We are disappointed that we haven’t been able to perform as well as we’d like against them in recent years so I think you will find us very highly motivated – ready to get right in amongst them.

"In combination with what we’ve done over the past couple of years, as a national team, in the World Cup and now with the clubs doing so well in Europe, a lot of sides now take us seriously."

Scotland may have some advantages. Clearly the Glasgow defensive system, which has not conceded a try in the last 162 minutes of European action, is working pretty well at the moment. Since it also demands that the players go in low, it is less likely to run into trouble with the World Rugby crackdown on high tackles.

"Over the past season or two, we’ve upped our ante defensively – we needed to," said Taylor. "The Glasgow boys have defended really well lately. If you defend well, you’ve got a really good opportunity of winning. We are generally a low tackling team, so that should help us, but we’ve got to be really accurate.The way the game is, sometimes people are falling, you come in at the wrong angle, you hit them and you could be in trouble."

Nor are they likely to stop throwing themselves at players as they kick – the nub of Murray's complaint. Apart from the chance of a charge down, they want to disturb the Ireland kicking game and make sure the likes of Stuart Hogg at full-back have time to create mayhem running the ball back.

"They do kick the ball a lot, they are very similar to Munster," Hogg pointed out. "Everybody [in the Scotland team] has a role within the kick cycle. If we can get all that, there should be space and I would hope to exploit it.

"The coaches have all worked hard looking for ways we can get some good change out of them. The kick cycle for us is a massive thing, a work-on for the backs to get these high ball catches. We hope to exploit all those areas."

Like all his team-mates he is riding the crest of a wave of self belief after doing the double over two of last season's Champions Cup semi finalists and aims to take that into the international campaign.

"We have had a huge amount of confidence before, but this year, the club sides are going well and the boys are in form. We are excited by the challenges that come our way, there is no better competition than the Six Nations to be involved in. Here is hoping we get off to a good start.

"We are disappointed not to have beaten Munster any time this season. It is Scotland Ireland now and we are in control of what we do on the pitch."

After all, in the last couple of years, when they have been on the wrong end of a couple of hammerings from Ireland, they have played the men in green late in the campaign, when confidence had been dented and injuries had taken their toll.

This time they are first up, and belief is still sky high. "Vern [Cotter, the Scotland head coach] has kept the balance," Hogg said. "We can play with the confidence to try things within the game plan. We can go out, express ourselves and have some fun."