For all their successes of recent years - a record 11 Test wins in a row and victories in 11 of their last 13 championship games - it is the sporadic defeats which England aren't allowed to forget. But if they are to be denied a Grand Slam at the final hurdle for the third year running, it won't be for want of playing their most potent mix.

Faced with the alternative of playing the steadier and more experienced Matt Perry in his club position of full back, with, say, Austin Healey or Ben Cohen on the wing, or retaining the comparatively inexperienced and reputedly out-of-touch Iain Balshaw at full back, Clive Woodward said "to hell with it".

So Balshaw, still on the wing with Bath while Perry holds down the number 15 jersey there, plays at full back with Jason Robinson making his first start on the left wing and Dan Luger moving across to the right.

Healey, who is in a rich vein of form, has to be content with a place on the bench, while Cohen misses the cut altogether.

It is the most eyebrow-raising aspect of a dual selection prior to Saturday's game, with England making five changes from their last championship outing and Ireland remaining unchanged. It is a very Woodward call and a very brave selection.

As was the case when the English head coach first promoted Balshaw to full back at the start of this truncated and protracted championship, Woodward would have received few brickbats for keeping Balshaw in reserve as, perhaps, an impact replacement. However, Balshaw immediately gave England another dimension to their game, both in his pace across the gain line and finishing, and in his fearless counter-attacking.

Woodward, no doubt with some strong support from Brian Ashton, clearly believes Balshaw still can do, even though playing on the wing for Bath hasn't revived his confidence to the same level since he lost his form and the chance of a Test place on the Lions tour.

At yesterday's press conference in their Portmarnock Hotel base, Woodward rejected the notion that Balshaw's form has been poor.

"I think he's been playing okay. Brian Ashton has watched him closely in the last two games and he's been impressed. He's a stand-out player."

Woodward also prefers to remember Balshaw's England form as opposed to his more recent Lions outings.

"We could be wrong, but I'd rather be wrong finding out in the heat of battle than never knowing, and I've got no doubt," added Woodward. "My only worry is that he may think he's got to prove something to me. But he's got nothing to prove to me. That's why I picked him."

Preferring instead to draw on successes rather than "the failures which the press harp back about", Woodward maintained: "I'm not scared of losing to Ireland. The only thing that worries me is if we don't go out and play. You can get held back by the fear of losing. I've been through them and come out of them, and I think what we're doing now is correct. I would not be sitting here as excited as I am if I'd gone conservative in my selection."

With a thankful nod from Woodward toward Graham Henry and Donal Lenihan - something of a collector's item - he also conceded that the Lions tour "fast-tracked" Robinson, the twinkletoed winger who can dance through the eye of a needle, into the starting line-up.

"It's the back three I expected they would pick," said Eddie O'Sullivan. "I think it would be hard to get a more dynamic, explosive, attacking back three. They've all got tremendous speed, and ability to break the game open, and it's a hell of a handful to be playing on Saturday."

After three appearances as a replacement, Robinson is one of five changes from the side which beat France 48-19 last April. He and Luger, back from injury then, elbow out Healey and Cohen, while injured captain Martin Johnson is replaced by Simon Shaw.

Martin Corry returns to a reshuffled back row in the absence of Lawrence Dallaglio, with Richard Hill moving to number eight. The other change is the inclusion of Danny Grewcock ahead of Steve Borthwick.

Further proof that a week is indeed an aeon in rugby, Warren Gatland conceded that the selectorial meeting to retain an unchanged team was an altogether more routine affair than that of a week before.

"It didn't take that long. We did go through the players and we did look at a couple of options on injuries. But in fairness to the players who went out on Saturday, you have to reward them for their effort and the result."

Brian O'Brien admitted they were "not terribly concerned" about David Wallace's shoulder injury.

For Keith Wood, the game will earn him a dual entry into the Irish international record books. By winning his 46th cap, Wood will become Ireland's most capped hooker, surpassing Ken Kennedy's landmark of 45, and by captaining Ireland again he will equal the record set by Tom Kiernan, who led Ireland in 24 Tests. Once again yesterday, Leinster coach Matt Williams oversaw some Leinster drills, and the session in Lansdowne Road was buttressed by several Leinster players. Having more opposed sessions "put a bit more realism in the sessions with full opposition, and when the backs are running also".

They did some more scrummaging before the backs "ran against each other, and then we had full-on defence, and full-on attack against the Leinster players as well." Most of the week, Gatland said, would be spent making sure the Irish squad got their heads right.

"We know how physical it's going to be and how tough it is going to be up front."

For most of yesterday, the two camps seemed more intent on killing each other with compliments. "We have to make sure that we hit the ground running on Saturday. I expect Ireland to improve from the Wales game last weekend," said Woodward. "It is going to be very tough, but that is the challenge and the pressure that we all want. Ireland will play better than they did against Wales - they will step up another gear, and we will need to up our level."

Gatland's garland was to place England as "strong favourites and probably the number two side in the world at the moment behind Australia. They're a world-class team, fantastic individual players."

Wood described them as "one of the best two sides in the world", and David Humphreys said: "I'd go further still and say they're the best team in the world on their day."

If the real war is half as good as the phoney war, it'll be a helluva day.