| Venue: Twickenham Stadium, London Date: Saturday, 9 March Kick-off: 16:45 GMT |
| Protection: Hear on BBC Radio 5 Reside, BBC Sounds & BBC Radio Ulster; stay textual content updates & highlights on BBC Sport web site & app; watch on ITV1 |
Twickenham has typically been the scene of Irish ache down the years, however as Saturday’s hotly-anticipated Six Nations encounter edges nearer, Eire have not often been so closely fancied to beat their previous rivals on the residence of English rugby.
Eire have good cause to be assured, too.
Even with the devastating denouement of their World Cup marketing campaign nonetheless lingering behind Irish minds, they face England on Saturday chasing every kind of historical past.
Firstly, Eire have received 11 Six Nations matches on the spin – no crew has ever reeled off 12 successive championship wins. England, first underneath Stuart Lancaster then Eddie Jones, managed 11 between 2015 and 2017. The crew that stopped them making it a dozen? Eire.
Current conferences serve solely to bolster Irish hope. Together with final 12 months’s World Cup warm-up tussle in Dublin, they’ve received their previous 4 conferences with England. Not because the Seventies have they managed 5 in a row.
Then there’s the Hugo Keenan issue. A nearly ever-present cog within the inexperienced machine underneath coach Andy Farrell, the full-back’s health has brought about appreciable consternation amongst followers in current weeks.
Having Keenan wholesome sufficient to start out – in Farrell’s solely change from the win over Wales – is a gigantic increase.
It is usually a hanging reminder of Eire’s energy in depth that Garry Ringrose has been ignored of the 23 regardless of the centre’s return to health.
However even when Eire are as assured as they’ve ever been going right into a match at Twickenham, Peter O’Mahony is just too lengthy within the tooth to permit such discuss to enter his lexicon.
“It is not one thing that we actually purchase into,” stated the Irish captain, when requested if it felt “unusual” to come back to Twickenham as “overwhelming favourites”.
“I do know you are most likely sick of listening to it from me however it’s a Check match tomorrow – Eire versus England. It is about who performs higher tomorrow, it is not about earlier type or the place you stand.
“That is one thing we have all the time been targeted on, our efficiency. We all know that if we play effectively tomorrow, we’ll be in with a shout, but when we do not hearth, this English crew has unbelievable high quality.
“It is not way back they have been competing within the final two video games of the World Cup. We all know we’re in for an enormous check in Twickenham, as all the time.”
Eire will fly again to Dublin with the title retained with every week to spare in the event that they safe a bonus-point win on Saturday, however their marketing campaign has been peculiar sufficient.
It began with a bang in Marseille, a 38-17 win over a disturbingly sub-par France, representing certainly one of nice Irish outcomes on the highway.
And whereas they did not fairly hearth on all cylinders towards Italy and Wales, they did greater than sufficient to make sure the Grand Slam prepare reached Twickenham.
O’Mahony cautious of England’s set-piece risk
England, then again, noticed the momentum gained from opening wins over Italy and Wales shattered at a raucous Murrayfield, as a Duhan van der Merwe-inspired Scotland despatched Steve Borthwick’s aspect into the fallow week with their noses bloodied.
However whereas Eire are into the fifth 12 months of Farrell’s reign, England are nonetheless in 12 months two underneath Borthwick.
They’re, in fact, now armed with an Irishman of their camp within the form of Dubliner Felix Jones, the previous Eire and Munster again whose nous as a defensive coach helped South Africa win back-to-back World Cups.
England even have a number of unknown portions of their line-up, with 21-year-old wing Immanuel Feyi-Waboso chief amongst them.
It makes England an intriguing proposition for Eire – and one O’Mahony shouldn’t be taking frivolously.
“They’re tough to foretell as a result of they have a few new coaches in,” the Munster flanker admitted on the eve of his 104th Eire cap.
“I have been there earlier than with the Leinster lads and Jacques [Nienaber]. It takes a little bit of time however you possibly can see that it is clicking with them.
“The extra they get into this the extra they’ll develop. It is all the time tough to foretell what their plan is. You’ll be able to see the define of what they’re making an attempt to do.
“They’re rising on a regular basis.”
O’Mahony first confronted England within the Six Nations in 2012. He has confronted distinctive England groups and he has confronted poor ones.
So, the place does he see the risk from this group of English gamers?
“Their tenacity of their set-piece, their skill to disrupt the set-piece is thru the roof,” he added.
“Their skill to disrupt the breakdown, the standard of poachers they’ve and counter-ruckers. Their energy recreation is de facto, actually sturdy.
“Their forwards stuff across the nook and their backs have a fantastic steadiness of understanding when to play and when it is on. Once more, it is a large defensive check for us tomorrow with the way in which they assault.”
O’Mahony additionally stated he considers this Eire crew to be the perfect he has ever performed in.
However even with that, his guard towards complacency seems as strong as ever.
Solely time will inform if that helps put Eire inside touching distance of a second successive Grand Slam.