London: Ireland will hope they have saved their “best for last” as they bid to win just their third Grand Slam 70 years to the week since they completed their first by beating England at Twickenham on Saturday.
In 1948, a Jack Kyle-inspired team swept all before them in the old Five Nations, while in 2009 it was a side starring another all-time great in Brian O’Driscoll that achieved a Six Nations Grand Slam.
Ireland arrive at Twickenham for the St Patrick’s Day clash on an all-time national record of 11 successive Test wins — a sequence that started when they denied England a Grand Slam last year.
England will kick-off on the back of successive away defeats by Scotland and France, but they have yet to lose at home under coach Eddie Jones.
They’ve won their last 15 Tests at Twickenham and haven’t suffered a Six Nations defeat at ‘headquarters’ since losing 19-12 to Wales in 2012 under Jones’ predecessor, Stuart Lancaster.
But as coach Joe Schmidt said after Ireland wrapped up their third Six Nations title in five years under his guidance with a 28-8 win at home to Scotland last weekend: “History doesn’t protect you from the future”.
Schmidt had already had many great days with Ireland, including overseeing their first win in history against his native New Zealand.
But the former Leinster boss was in no doubt about the significance of a Grand Slam, saying: “I work with these young men who go out and do an incredibly difficult job and work very hard. It would give me incredible satisfaction to see that rewarded.”
Ireland captain Rory Best and fullback Rob Kearney are the only survivors from the 2009 team, with Best saying: “We’re going to have to save the best for last, and that’s what it’s going to take to win.”
But while Schmidt has made just the one change to his side, recalling lock Iain Henderson, Jones has responded to losing back-to-back matches for the first time as England coach by making seven personnel changes and an additional three positional switches.
The most eye-catching sees Owen Farrell move from his regular England position of inside centre to fly-half, where he plays for European club champions Saracens, in place of the dropped George Ford.
Richard Wigglesworth, who plays alongside Farrell at London club Saracens, starts at scrum-half instead of Danny Care following a 22-16 loss to France in Paris, while injuries to Nathan Hughes and Courtney Lawes have led to an enforced rejigging of the back-row.
But whether the new half-back combination can revive England’s often ponderous attack or the new loose-forward trio solve the team’s long-standing breakdown problems remains to be seen.
Fit-again England captain Dylan Hartley returns at hooker after a calf injury kept him out of the France game.
Recent defeats have cast doubt on England’s chances of winning next year’s World Cup in Japan but Hartley said: “We are still a good team. Two losses doesn’t mean we are not a good team.”
The often slim difference between success and failure was summed up by the astounding 41-phase move that led to the last-ditch Jonathan Sexton drop-goal saw Ireland secure a come-from-behind win over France in their tournament opener — a kick without which Ireland’s Grand Slam dreams would have been dashed first-up.
Fly-half Sexton is not the only danger man among Ireland’s backs, with wing Jacob Stockdale having already scored six tries this Championship and so equalled the record for the most in a single Six Nations era-season.
Amid everything else, Jones found himself apologising for referring to Ireland as “scummy” after a video of a talk he gave to corporate sponsors last year re-emerged.
“Ireland are preparing for a Grand Slam, they don’t need any extra motivation,” said Jones when asked about the possible impact of his crude comments, while Schmidt said they had not disturbed the “bubble” that surrounds his squad.
Standings
Team P W D L PD B Pts
Ireland 4 4 0 0 69 3 19
Wales 4 2 0 2 35 3 11
England 4 2 0 2 19 2 10
France 4 2 0 2 15 2 10
Scotland 4 2 0 2 -29 0 8
Italy 4 0 0 4 -109 0 0
