When Eddie Jones reflected on England’s opponents this weekend he used the words ‘most teams in the Six Nations have one big performance - we’ve seen that from all of the teams’.
Of course the immediate question shortly after was does that mean that we saw England’s against Scotland (?) because let’s face it, it was a pretty impressive performance. His answer was clear and tells you everything that you need to know about the belief that he has in his side and how he instils that belief into his players;
‘When I said 'most teams' we are not 'most teams'. We are a different team and I think that we've showed that, and we are ready to take it to another level on Saturday.’
Ireland may be without some key players but on home soil, with British & Irish Lions places on the line and the chance to stop England in their tracks Joe Schdmit’s team will be inspired and England will have to push themselves higher. It’s a tough ask and it’s not easy but I believe that we’ll see this England side prevail in Dublin. Why? Well because of the power of their physical and emotional preparation and I’ll expand on both below.
During Thursday afternoon’s team announcement Eddie Jones expanded on the road to greatness and gave us all a flavour the types of conversations that will have been going on behind closed doors at Pennyhill Park all week;
“To go from where we go to greatness takes another step of endeavour. It takes greater focus, it takes greater persistence, it takes greater emotional output. It is like climbing up a mountain; every time you go to another level of the mountain it becomes more unstable. The ground becomes more unstable, your ears hurt, your nose hurts.
It is exactly the same when you are climbing the ladder of success - everything becomes a bit harder and sometimes you have got to just stop and say, ‘Right, this is what is ahead of us.’ And probably we weren’t very good at that. In retrospect, that’s my fault. We have done that and I think the players have understood the challenges ahead and re-equipped for the challenges ahead.”
Addressing these emotions head on a vital step towards dealing with them and addressing them in a frank and open manner shows to their opponents that they know what’s ahead and are ready. There’s no shying away from that fact that this isn’t just another match, the stakes are higher and the pressure is greater. Right now there’s a focus, a steel and a hard edge around this England rugby squad and it comes directly from the top. In years gone by pre-match conversations on Saturday in pubs arounds the country would contain whispers of ‘do you think England have the nerve?’. 'Will they have the bottle and deliver?'. Now, with 18 successive victories in a row behind them and the manner in which some of those were achieved the prospect of having to prosper in Dublin doesn’t make players or fans bat an eyelid - it can and should be done.
Looking over to the physical elements it’s clear that England are in tremendous nick… yes that’s a slightly informal phraseology there but it’s true. Performance levels haven’t been sky high this Six Nations but physicall England have excelled. Fitness hasn’t ever been an issue and they will mach Ireland pound for pound. Without question England’s bench is one of the very best in the world right now, it allows them to keep upping their intensity throughout the 80 minutes and also provides different levels to pull and types of game plan to pull out as and when is necessary. Ireland will deliver all guns blazing and their reaction to last weekend's outing will be strong but there’s no shying away from the fact that they will greatly miss the experience of Conor Murray.
This Six Nations hasn't been vintage in terms of performances from England but the results have arrived regardless and Saturday afternoon’s match is another opportunity to really stamp their authority on the world game. We’ve seen Steve Hansen’s back handed compliments arrive already and with so much on the line in Dublin, prevailing and doing so in some style, would send out further signals of the potential that England have to achieve their 2019 ambition. Super Saturday’s finale will be tumultuous, Ireland will give it absoultely everything but I cannot wait to see what England deliver because I believe, like I did so before the Scotland match, that it could be something very special indeed.
England: 15 Mike Brown, 14 Anthony Watson, 13 Jonathan Joseph, 12 Owen Farrell, 11 Elliot Daly, 10 George Ford, 9 Ben Youngs; 1 Joe Marler, 2 Dylan Hartley (C), 3 Dan Cole, 4 Joe Launchbury, 5 Courtney Lawes, 6 Maro Itoje, 7 James Haskell, 8 Billy Vunipola. Replacements: 16 Jamie George, 17 Mako Vunipola, 18 Kyle Sinckler, 19 Tom Wood, 20 Nathan Hughes, 21 Danny Care, 22 Ben Te'o, 23 Jack Nowell.
