Despite some shaky games and some finger-pointing in the press Ireland go to London this weekend pretty much where they expected to be - and with an unchanged side. Andy Robinson's side cannot say the same but it's still England and it's still Twickenham.
Three home wins, a defeat in Paris, and its now down to a realistic shot at the Triple Crown in the backyard of the ‘auld enemy’. An outside chance of the title proper looms, but will not be dwelled upon.
The job at hand is to beat whatever England side turns up. And the side to do it, the coach feels, is the one that beat Scotland and the elements last weekend.
Eddie O’Sullivan described that game as the "best 80 minutes" so far, so there was "no reason to change it". There is one alteration on the bench which sees Johnny O'Connor return in place of Mick O'Driscoll.
That England are not in the shake-up for bragging rights on these islands, is the only surprise. Their confidence was undoubtedly shaken in Paris last weekend. Their post-match comments and admissions suggested as much. The wholesale changes announced this afternoon proved it.
Six World Cup winners have paid the price, with Andy Robinson choosing Josh Lewsey, Mike Tindall, Matt Dawson, Steve Thompson, Julian White and lock Danny Grewcock as the fall guys. The six players boast more than 300 Test caps between them.
With Sale Sharks fly-half Charlie Hodgson sidelined by a hamstring injury, it means there are seven new faces in the England starting line-up following the Paris debacle. Leicester's Andy Goode takes over from the stricken Hodgson and will make his first Six Nations start.
Predictably O’Sullivan has no outward opinion on the matter. His side still have to beat England in London. That will be achieved in the same way it would have been had the hosts remained unchanged.
There will be a concerted effort to get more width than the weather allowed last week, and to "keep the ball in hand more". But the most important thing will be to keep standards high in the set-pieces. The lineout will be crucial. Ireland dominated against Scotland but England have been the most consistent at that particular set-piece according to the coach.
"I have looked at the English lineout now since the start of the season, and they are probably the most consistent lineout in the championship. They have a 90 per cent success rate on their own ball and they have pilfered 30 per cent of almost every other team they have played against."
He expects England "to bounce back from Paris" considering the three tries they conceded were "reminiscent of what we went through in Paris" but does not see them altering their gameplan.
"I can’t imagine they will change it playing Ireland, they will probably feel that Ireland would be a team...that they can probably out-muscle, physically. So we would expect it to be a very, very physical game, a very direct game.
Ireland will go into the game knowing the outcome of France’s trip to Wales, and knowing what needs to be done to win the championship. A French win in Cardiff looks a sure thing. "They’ll be locked and loaded," according to O’Sullivan but it’s "a waste of energy" thinking about it too much. And dangerous too when there is a potential three-in-a-row against England on the cards.
The coach admits that he would have "preferred" the scenario of a straight shootout between England and Ireland for the championship, that would have emerged had England won in Paris. "That would have heaped an awful lot of pressure on England," he says.
"England will have to bounce back from Paris...they have only lost one game at Twickenham this year, and that was to New Zealand, so its not an easy place to get a result, no matter what way you dice it."
Ireland (v England): 15-Geordan Murphy; 14-Shane Horgan, 13-Brian O'Driscoll (captain), 12-Gordon D'Arcy, 11-Andrew Trimble; 10-Ronan O'Gara, 9-Peter Stringer; 8-Denis Leamy, 7-David Wallace, 6-Simon Easterby, 5-Paul O'Connell, 4-Malcolm O'Kelly, 3-John Hayes, 2-Jerry Flannery, 1-Marcus Horan. Replacements: 16-Rory Best, 17-Simon Best, 18-Donncha O'Callaghan, 19-Johnny O'Connor, 20-Eoin Reddan, 21-David Humphreys, 22-Girvan Dempsey.
