Six Nations 2024: ‘Ireland not buying into favourites tag as Twickenham looms’

Twickenham has often been the scene of Irish pain down the years, but as Saturday’s hotly-anticipated Six Nations encounter edges closer, Ireland have rarely been so heavily fancied to beat their old rivals at the home of English rugby.

Even with the devastating denouement of their World Cup campaign still lingering in the back of Irish minds, they face England on Saturday chasing all kinds of history.

Firstly, Ireland have won 11 Six Nations matches on the spin – no team has ever reeled off 12 successive championship wins. England, first under Stuart Lancaster then Eddie Jones, managed 11 between 2015 and 2017. The team that stopped them making it a dozen? Ireland.

Recent meetings serve only to reinforce Irish hope. Including last year’s World Cup warm-up tussle in Dublin, they have won their past four meetings with England. Not since the 1970s have they managed five in a row.

Then there is the Hugo Keenan factor. A virtually ever-present cog in the green machine under coach Andy Farrell, the full-back’s fitness has caused considerable consternation among fans in recent weeks.

Having Keenan healthy enough to start – in Farrell’s only change from the win over Wales – is an enormous boost.

It is also a striking reminder of Ireland’s strength in depth that Garry Ringrose has been left out of the 23 despite the centre’s return to fitness.

But even if Ireland are as confident as they have ever been going into a match at Twickenham, Peter O’Mahony is too long in the tooth to allow such talk to enter his lexicon.

“It’s not something that we really buy into,” said the Irish captain, when asked if it felt “strange” to come to Twickenham as “overwhelming favourites”.

“I know you’re probably sick of hearing it from me but it’s a Test match tomorrow – Ireland versus England. It’s about who plays better tomorrow, it’s not about previous form or where you stand.

“That’s something we’ve always been focused on, our performance. We know that if we play well tomorrow, we’ll be in with a shout, but if we don’t fire, this English team has incredible quality.

“It’s not long ago they were competing in the last two games of the World Cup. We know we’re in for a huge test in Twickenham, as always.”

Ireland will fly back to Dublin with the title retained with a week to spare if they secure a bonus-point win on Saturday, but their campaign has been peculiar enough.

It started with a bang in Marseille, a 38-17 win over a disturbingly sub-par France, representing one of great Irish results on the road.

And while they didn’t quite fire on all cylinders against Italy and Wales, they did more than enough to ensure the Grand Slam train reached Twickenham.

O’Mahony wary of England’s set-piece threat

England, on the other hand, saw the momentum gained from opening wins over Italy and Wales shattered at a raucous Murrayfield, as a Duhan van der Merwe-inspired Scotland sent Steve Borthwick’s side into the fallow week with their noses bloodied.

But while Ireland are into the fifth year of Farrell’s reign, England are still in year two under Borthwick.

They are, of course, now armed with an Irishman in their camp in the shape of Dubliner Felix Jones, the former Ireland and Munster back whose nous as a defensive coach helped South Africa win back-to-back World Cups.

England also have a few unknown quantities in their line-up, with 21-year-old wing Immanuel Feyi-Waboso chief among them.

It makes England an intriguing proposition for Ireland – and one O’Mahony is not taking lightly.

“They’re difficult to predict because they’ve got a couple of new coaches in,” the Munster flanker admitted on the eve of his 104th Ireland cap.

“I’ve been there before with the Leinster lads and Jacques [Nienaber]. It takes a bit of time but you can see that it’s clicking with them.

“The more they get into this the more they’re going to grow. It’s always difficult to predict what their plan is. You can see the outline of what they’re trying to do.

“They’re growing all the time.”

O’Mahony first faced England in the Six Nations in 2012. He has faced exceptional England teams and he has faced poor ones.

So, where does he see the threat from this group of English players?

“Their tenacity in their set-piece, their ability to disrupt the set-piece is through the roof,” he added.

“Their ability to disrupt the breakdown, the quality of poachers they have and counter-ruckers. Their power game is really, really strong.

“Their forwards stuff around the corner and their backs have a great balance of knowing when to play and when it’s on. Again, it’s a massive defensive test for us tomorrow with the way they attack.”

O’Mahony also said he considers this Ireland team to be the best he has ever played in.

But even with that, his guard against complacency appears as solid as ever.

Only time will tell if that helps put Ireland within touching distance of a second successive Grand Slam.