Friday 4 September 2015 11:51, UK
Sky Sports' Will Greenwood says England's unbeaten run at Twickenham in 2015 is vital to their World Cup ambitions.
England's final warm-up game has arrived and it's a big one. Ireland have been a team on the up for some time now and, the loss to Wales last week aside, are turning into a difficult side to beat at just the right time.
England will want to play much better than they did last week and come away with a win as their focus becomes entirely about the World Cup.
But it's not just for the team dynamic and momentum that England need to produce a big performance on Saturday.
I am a firm believer, and said earlier in the year, that if England are to win the World Cup they need to ensure that they remain unbeaten at Twickenham in 2015. So far so good.
They dealt with Italy and Scotland at their headquarters before saving the best for last against the French in the Six Nations. Then in the first of the World Cup warm-ups against France they came out on top once again.
The first 65 minutes in Paris last week will have left England fans a little dazed and slightly underwhelmed, which is the last thing that the players and coaches would want so close to hosting the World Cup.
So that's five out of five for England at Twickenham this year. It also helps that the last northern hemisphere team to beat England at Twickenham were Wales in 2012, or that Ireland's last win in the stadium came in 2010.
But those side notes are unlikely to feature too much in Stuart Lancaster's talks this week. Saturday's focus will purely remain on the present and keeping the home winning streak intact. Part of the home ground advantage comes from the familiarity of beating teams when they visit, and with England playing three of their four pool matches at Twickenham, it's important that it becomes a venue of success for the red rose.
Expectation
Of course the performances of the players will be under scrutiny, and this is a chance for a few of the bench players to grab hold of starting jerseys for the big games, but England will also see this as a chance to get the fans up out of their seats cheering on a side from whom they expect big things. Expectation is important, because it sets high standards.
When the All Blacks run out at Eden Park there is an atmosphere of expectation. The same of the Springboks at Ellis Park. There is no reason it should be any different when Chris Robshaw and his team run out at Twickenham.
The first 65 minutes in Paris last week will have left England fans a little dazed and slightly underwhelmed, which is the last thing that the players and coaches would want so close to hosting the World Cup.
That game is now done; England learned a valuable lesson about going through the motions and that lesson was taught by an aggressive French pack and the effervescent Fred Michalak. All they can do is thank the French for the timely lesson and ensure there are no repeat offences when the rest of the world land in London in just over two weeks' time.
The performance of Michalak is out of England's hands and can't be fixed, but the performance of the forwards is certainly something that will have been polished this week.
Graham Rowntree won't have fluffed his lines when delivering the verdict on England's set piece in Paris, and will be looking for a far better performance from England's tight five this weekend.
If an England crowd should be expectant, that expectation should start with a dominant pack of forwards.
Training
Training this week will have been a lot easier on the guys. When places are up for grabs training can be quite intense. You're up against mates for a place in the squad so there is an extra edge on the training paddock.
That edge is not necessarily a bad thing, but it is mentally tiring. What England will have had this week is the entire squad with the same goal. They all know they're in the 31 and will have been clubbing together to ensure the starting fifteen will be sharp and confident going into this game.
Will it abolish England's World Cup dream if they are beaten by Ireland at Twickenham? No, the focus will simply shift to how to fix any problems and stay on track. But win and England reserve the right to welcome Fiji onto the Twickenham turf with the knowledge that good teams have failed to win there before them.
Beat Fiji and they can say the same to Wales on September 26.
A win against Ireland on Saturday puts more than just a 'W' in the results column, it puts expectant fans in Twickenham and pressure on all visiting teams who follow them.
