This week redemption is the spur once more. But whereas Ireland were seeking to banish the Murrayfield blues in Cardiff last week, this time it is England who are attempting to lay to rest the bogeys of Wembley against Wales two years ago and Murrayfield last year. It will be a powerful spur.
On one level there's a certain symmetry there, for now it is conceivably Ireland's turn to complete a Celtic hat-trick against the auld enemy. Yet those last day slip-ups in Wembley and Murrayfield actually make it less likely that England will slip up again.
Only Mike Catt and Jason Leonard survive from England's last grand slammers of 1995, under the captaincy of Will Carling, and both the sticks of the last two years and the carrot on offer today could hardly have England more primed.
"This is the biggest game of the autumn season," said Clive Woodward, ahead of next month's Twickenham fixtures against Australia, South Africa and Romania. "This is a chance of winning the Grand Slam. Throughout the history of the Five and Six Nations, teams who are remembered are the ones that win Grand Slams."
You sense too that this Irish team possibly command more respect than even France, who were destroyed at Twickenham in England's last championship outing six months ago. Even before Ireland were next on their championship itinerary, English players were publicly talking up their trip to Dublin as the big one.
England have won a record 11 matches on the bounce, dating back to their win over the Springboks in Bloemfontein 16 months ago. The world champions, Australia, were among those scalps. Each of their four championship wins to date in this truncated campaign have been records of one sort or another. With a game to spare they have already set new landmarks in the Championship for most points (215) and most tries (28). Even if Ireland were to do the unlikely and topple them for the first time in seven attempts and so finish level on points, there's little doubt that England would be deserving champions.
"You have to admire their ambition," Warren Gatland said yesterday, citing their style of play under the ultra-positive Woodward, the development of a rich pool of talent and their coaching staff, all of which have combined to raise the bar. "They are a fantastic outfit," the Irish coach conceded.
True, there are enough straws in the wind for Ireland to clutch at. There is, of course, no obvious English enforcer up front in the absence of Martin Johnson and Lawrence Dallaglio - who utterly bossed the corresponding fixture two years ago as if Lansdowne Road were his private schoolyard to bully. Who will make the hard yards? Phil Greening perhaps, Danny Grewcock and Martin Corry maybe. There are enough talkers and leaders (Jason Leonard, Neil Back, Richard Hill, Mike Catt) throughout the team to compensate in the vocal department, but they're missing two awesome players.
The elusive Jason Robinson (already one of the best finishers in the world game) running at Shane Horgan, or Iain Balshaw running at anybody, is a scary enough thought, but for all their potency, the all-singing, all-dancing outside three could be vulnerable defensively.
Catt and Will Greenwood have each had only three games under their belts since recovering fron post-Lions fatigue - which is not enough in the latter's case according to his club coach John Kingston. There was a doubt about the fitness of Martin Corry and Julian White.
Even so, for Ireland to win, as Gatland said yesterday, they need to be "100 per cent accurate". England are astute in deciding when to go wide, according to Eddie O'Sullivan, "and are patient about playing it through the phases before eventually they collapse you down and get you on the outside."
Aside from making tackles on their terms and not over-committing to rucks, O'Sullivan believes Ireland must "maintain a link between the midfield defence and the fringe defence. If that fractures we're in trouble."
He's in no doubt that Irish players won't be found wanting in the tackle. It's going to be a huge ask, as sweat-soaked green jerseys will be obliged to dig deep and make that extra yard to be in a position for the tackle after seventh or eighth phase.
With the ball, O'Sullivan is hopeful Ireland can create chances, "but we've got to be a lot more clinical than we were in Cardiff."
Mentally and physically, Ireland should be nicely primed. Murrayfield still hurts, but the pressure is off for a win. The likes of Keith Wood and Malcolm O'Kelly are big-game players, while Eric Miller, David Wallace, David Humprheys, Brian O'Driscoll, Denis Hickie and Girvan Dempsey are all in confident, rich veins of form.
A key factor will be whether Ireland can stay in touch for 80 minutes, for it would be hard to envisage them playing catch-up or England not pulling away from a position of strength. Another critical component will be whether the Irish players truly retain their belief that they can beat England for 80 or 90 minutes.
Ireland also have a match-hardened edge, though in England's first outing of the season a year ago they toppled the world champion Wallabies, while in their first Championship outing of the calendar year they blew Wales away, so rusty or not they know how to hit the ground running.
In the heel of the hunt, after not really firing many shots in most of the last six meetings, if Ireland can deliver a performance, and can hurt England with their prized weapons - O'Driscoll and Hickie spring most obviously to mind - out wide, much like they did against South Africa a year ago, then it will be game on. Thereafter, the result can take care of itself.
