WALES can stop Ireland's Grand Slam bid in its tracks at the Millennium Stadium a week Saturday according to Scotland captain Bryan Redpath.

Redpath has played against both Ireland and Wales this season, but doesn't believe the result is a foregone conclusion for the Irish.

Victory would not only end Ireland's hopes, but would remove the very real threat of Wales' first Six Nations whitewash.

"Wales are in with a chance," forecast Redpath. "When you see how they played against England, and how they might have won if Mark Taylor had scored that try then they do have a chance.

"Ireland are playing with bags of confidence and there will be a lot of pressure on Wales.

"But Wales probably deserve more than what they have got this season. They've got good players, and they'll have to pick themselves up. I know what it's like to be under pressure.

"Last week was the worst I've known for pressure. I've been around for a long time, but everyone has got to move on."

Scottish enigma Gregor Townsend, back to something like his best against Wales, believes they must play a wide game against the Irish.

"It depends on what Ireland team turns out," he said. "If it's an open game Wales will be in there and they need to get the ball wide whereas Ireland will probably want to make it a tighter game.

"Wales struggled to get in the game early on against us, but they sorted out their line-out problems and the scrum and kept the ball more in the second half.

"But it's hard when you're chasing the game, especially when it's away. Things don't go your way when you haven't got the confidence, but Wales do have some good runners.

"It was great for Scotland to get a result, though maybe we sat back a bit too much in the second half.

"It was good to get back on the winning trail, we held on to the ball a lot better.

"If we had lost I don't think you'd have seen us going to Twickenham (Scotland's next match) with much hope.

"So we'll now give it our best shot because we've got nothing to lose.

"Our pack played a lot better and we defended well against Wales. I'm happy to be at 10 or centre, it was just a big team effort."

Scotland coach Ian McGeechan said the pack were responsible for the victory over Wales.

"The game was won at forward," he said. "We played well and we're disappointed with the last two scores, but delighted with our defence.

"A lot of credit goes to the players and their character. This makes a huge difference to our plan for the future, we looked after the ball and made better targets which allows your game to evolve."