Speaking immediately after he watched his side win the 2017 Six Nations championship, England coach Eddie Jones looked ahead to next weekend's trip to Dublin with caution.
Ireland have nothing to play for having suffered their second loss of the tournament to Wales on Friday night, but that is precisely why Jones believes that Joe Schmidt's men will have the psychological advantage ahead of kick-off.
Jones claimed that Ireland 'love spoiling parties' and would value spoiling the England Grand Slam party above all else..
And to be fair, he's not wrong.
Ireland, psychologically, are in a very strong position. They're beaten, they're out of the tournament and they love spoiling parties.
And the party they'd love to spoil the most is the England party. They've got an enormous amount of psychological advantage.
We're vulnerable, because we've won, we're champions of the Six Nations. We're going to have to work really hard to get ourselves right for the game. And we will.
Whether or not Ireland have an advantage is questionable, as the team will have to lift themselves after an error-filled and disappointing performance in Cardiff, but if there was one game that could generate some fire in the belly of the Irish players it is unquestionably a home meeting with England. But it's clear that Jones' men have more to lose, and that is enough for him to be worried about what lies in store.
Ireland will be absolutely desperate not to allow England beat them in their own backyard to claim the Grand Slam, just as much as England will be to do it.
Six wins from six, and breaking New Zealand's winning streak, would be a big statement from England who Jones revealed are aspiring to be the best team in the world within the next few years.
We're not beating our chests and saying we're the number one team in the world, but we aspire to be the number one team in the world.
We're one year into a four-year project. We've done reasonably well in the first year. We want to be the number one team in the world but we're not, so we have got to get better.
There's clear motivation for Ireland to give it their all on St.Patrick's day, but the supporters will have mixed feelings in the build-up to the game as it is not clear which Ireland team will show up.
Will Ireland rise to the occasion and spoil England's Grand Slam party? We really, really hope so.
[via Sky Sports]
