David Humphreys has dismissed talk that Ireland will crack under the pressure of trying to win their first Grand Slam since 1948 when they take on England in the Six Nations decider on Sunday.
The two sides put their lengthy unbeaten records on the line at Lansdowne Road on Sunday with the championship, the Triple Crown and the Grand Slam all up for grabs.
But as kick-off approaches, the Irish camp have insisted they have nothing to lose, suggesting that the pressure is all on favourites England.
"This is something to look forward to, the sort of pressure you want," said the Ulster fly-half. "I've been involved in Irish teams trying to avoid winning the wooden spoon and I can tell you there's a lot more pressure involved in that," he added.
"Before there just wasn't the belief or the confidence there in the squad that we could pull through. I think there is now though, for a number of reasons.
"Winning breeds a confidence that when you're in a tight spot you do believe you're going to pull through."
Winger Denis Hickie added: "We've nothing to lose, we've only got a Grand Slam to win. We've got to this situation and got ourselves into this position where we're going after the Grand Slam and we always wanted to find ourselves in this position.
"If we win it will be an historic day and that's what we're looking at".
Hickie insisted there was more at stake in last weekend's dramatic narrow victory over Wales in Cardiff than there will be for his side in Dublin on Sunday.
"The pressures between the two games are so different," he said. When you find yourself on the verge of doing something really good, it's a lot more nerve-wracking and there's a lot more pressure than when it comes down to one game.
"So in a peculiar way, we had more to lose last week than on Sunday," the winger said.