Ireland stand on the brink of a third NatWest 6 Nations Grand Slam but to achieve that they must first head to Twickenham and overcome England.
Joe Schmidt’s charges have swept aside France, Wales, Italy and Scotland – enough to claim the Championship crown with one game to spare.
But they face an England side determined to put defeats against Scotland and France out of their minds.
Revenge will be high on the agenda for the Red Rose after losing at the Aviva Stadium last year and as Ireland prepare to announce their starting line-up, we examine what you should be looking out for.
Back row switch-up?
Both Peter O’Mahony and Rob Kearney sat out Ireland’s penultimate full training session ahead of a huge fixture at Twickenham.
That news could see Jordi Murphy slot in to replace O’Mahony, who came on for the flanker last weekend, wiith Jordan Larmour deputising at full-back for Kearney.
But assistant coach Richie Murphy is confident both O’Mahony and Kearney will be ready to face England.
“Peter is OK, everyone who played in the game on Saturday will be fit and ready to play this weekend. He is the same as Rob Kearney,” Murphy said.
“Rob is fine, it’s just a case of managing his load.
“He picked up a couple of bangs during the game at the weekend and we are just easing him back into the week. He is perfectly fine and available for selection.”
Shuffle the pack
With the Grand Slam on the line, Joe Schmidt may opt to shuffle his pack – and bring Iain Henderson back into the fold.
Henderson started in Paris and at home to Italy but James Ryan deputised for the victories over Wales and Scotland.
Meanwhile Jack McGrath could make his second start of the Championship after lining up in the front row against Italy last month in place of Cian Healy.
More of the same
Jonathan Sexton – who kicked Ireland to victory in the opening match against France – is expected to be fit after suffering a hip problem, in a team which is set to have very few changes from the one that downed Scotland in Dublin.
Sexton has been magnificent for Ireland in the Championship so far and assistant coach Murphy is in no doubt the fly-half will play a huge part in the Twickenham contest.
He said: “Johnny trained fully this morning and is fine. We were managing him a little bit through last week but he has come through that process.
“He had a little bit of glute issue but had no issues after the game or after training today.
“He has been slightly restricted in his training load in (terms of) the previous week.
“He is in a good place, he trained today, he kicked today, he’ll kick tomorrow and is building into Saturday’s game with no issues.”
