Eire are 80 minutes away from sealing what could be a fourth Grand Slam, however their first gained in Dublin.

A win would assure Eire the title, but when France fail to beat Wales then they are going to have been topped champions earlier than kick-off.

Opponents England are nonetheless reeling from a record-breaking loss to France.

The duty they face on Saturday is large. Eire, the world quantity facet, are on a nationwide document run of 13 straight house wins.

“It’s what goals are made from,” mentioned head coach Andy Farrell. “To play England at house on the final weekend, on St Paddy’s weekend, for a Grand Slam, it would not get any higher.”

There’s additionally the added bonus of Johnny Sexton turning into the event’s all-time document factors scorer in his ultimate Six Nations sport. The fly-half is at the moment tied with fellow Irishman Ronan O’Gara on 557 factors.

Eire crew information

Eire’s Ryan Baird, Jamison Gibson-Park and Robbie Henshaw will make their first begins of this 12 months’s Six Nations.

Lock Baird and centre Henshaw exchange injured pair Iain Henderson and Garry Ringrose, whereas scrum-half Gibson-Park has been most well-liked to Conor Murray in the one unenforced alteration to Andy Farrell’s beginning XV.

Rob Herring, second-row Kieran Treadwell and versatile again Jimmy O’Brien have been added to the bench.

England crew information

England winger Henry Arundell will make his first begin in considered one of 4 modifications.

Owen Farrell comes again in as captain at fly-half after being dropped for Marcus Smith in opposition to France.

Manu Tuilagi is called at inside centre for the injured Ollie Lawrence for his first England look beneath Steve Borthwick.

The ultimate change sees David Ribbans replaces the injured Ollie Chessum within the second row.

Commentator’s notes

Alasdair Eykyn: This fairytale writes itself: St Patrick’s Day weekend, Irish followers flooding again from the four-legged thrills of Cheltenham, Johnny Sexton’s ultimate Six Nations match… certainly it ends in an Irish Grand Slam?

Such was England’s capitulation in opposition to France, a lot of the dialog now focuses on the potential scale of an Irish victory.

Eire have been magnificent of their problem-solving win at Murrayfield, and their confidence and cohesion will virtually definitely show an excessive amount of for Steve Borthwick’s shell-shocked troops.

Owen Farrell and Manu Tuilagi return, Henry Arundell begins. The naked minimal English expectation is to place up a combat. However an Irish Slam beckons, solely the fourth of their historical past, and the primary to be sealed in Dublin.

View from each camps

Eire head coach Andy Farrell: “Ellis Genge saying that England are going to come back out and combat….in fact 100% they are going to.

“They will be formidable opponents for us. I do know the standard of participant they have.

“We have seen of their attacking sport when it has been flowing, they’re as harmful as anybody within the competitors.

“They’re going to have the emotional edge, clearly. There is no higher tonic than getting again on the market and taking part in once more and placing a number of issues proper.”

England head coach Steve Borthwick: “Everyone across the crew – gamers, coaches, administration crew – discovered final weekend’s end result and efficiency painful. It hurts.

“Each considered one of us this week has labored collectively to get an improved efficiency on Saturday. We’re enthusiastic about this sport and consider in what we’re attempting to do.

“I have been up entrance in regards to the hole and our job this week is to maintain attempting to speed up our improvement. We’ve got a variety of catching as much as do.”

Line-ups

Eire: 15-Keenan; 14-Hansen, 13-Henshaw 12-Aki, 11-Lowe; 10-Sexton (capt) 9-Jamison-Park; 1-Porter, 2-Sheehan, 3-Furlong, 4-Baird, 5-Ryan, 6-O’Mahony, 7-Van der Flier, 8-Doris

Replacements: 16-Herring 17-Healy, 18-O’Toole, 19-Treadwell, 20-Conan 21-Murray, 22-Bryne, 23-O’Brien

England: 15-Steward, 14-Watson, 13-Slade, 12-Tuilagi, 11-Arundell; 10-Farrell, 9-Van Poortvliet; 1-Genge, 2-George, 3-Sinckler, 4-Itoje, 5-Ribbans, 6-Ludlam, 7-Willis, 8-Dombrandt

Replacements: 16-Walker, 17-M Vunipola, 18-Cole, 19-Isiekwe, 20-B Curry, 21-Mitchell, 22-Smith, 23-Marchant

Match info

Head-to-head

• After a run of 4 straight defeats in all competitions to England, Eire have gained their final two conferences, scoring precisely 32 factors in each video games.
• Eire are the one facet England have a dropping document in opposition to within the Six Nations, having misplaced 13 of 23 video games.
• That is the sixth time {that a} Grand Slam has been on the road in matches between these sides: Eire denied England in 2001, 2011 and 2017, England prevailed in 2003 and Eire in 2018.

Eire

• Eire are aiming to win their fourth Grand Slam after 1948, 2009 and 2018, and a fifth Six Nations title after 2009, 2014, 2015 and 2018.
• It will even be their second Triple Crown in a row and their seventh within the Six Nations period, which might be two greater than another nation.
• They might set a brand new document of eight straight Six Nations wins, surpassing the seven-game streak additionally they set between 2004 and 2005.
• Andy Farrell’s facet are on a nationwide document run of 13 wins at house.

England

• England will end no greater than third for the fourth time within the final six championships.
• They conceded 50 factors at Twickenham for the primary ever time in opposition to France final Saturday.
• It was their third-highest defeat in any Check fixture and their highest in a Six Nations match.
• They’ve misplaced two matches at house in the identical Six Nations event for the primary time.

Match officers

Referee: Jaco Peyper (SA)

Contact judges: Ben O’Keeffe (NZ) and Pierre Brousset (FRA)

TMO: Marius Jonker (SA)