Ireland name team for Grand Slam decider with England

Ireland captain Rory Best insists Eddie Jones’ “scummy Irish” comments are a mere sideshow to his team’s Six Nations Grand Slam-decider against England on Saturday at Twickenham.

Iain Henderson replaces lock Devin Toner in the only change to the Ireland side.

Toner will take Henderson’s place on a bench that otherwise remains unchanged for the game, which kicks off at 2.45pm on St. Patrick’s Day.

Half-back – Ireland have arguably the best half-back pairing in the world in Johnny Sexton and Conor Murray, and the duo have been crucial to this Six Nations title.

“There is a sense of anticipation, a sense of nervousness”. Hardly a sign of the rot creeping in, or of England having already peaked, but with Warren Gatland cranking up the pressure on Jones’ underperforming side, there was a bullishness about the way he talked about their prospects.

“So if we start to get distracted with a sideshow like that and bits and pieces, it takes us away from what is important to us. We need to get on the front foot against Ireland and we’ve selected a team to do that”.

A lot of Ireland’s younger players, although they have performed incredibly to date, will not have experienced the type of atmosphere they will on Saturday afternoon and Best warns that for them, “it is not the time to go into your shell”.

“And what’s at stake is a fantastic opportunity, not just to achieve a Grand Slam, but to go a year unbeaten”.

“We just felt we needed to make some changes for this game. And the team feels the same way”.

The Ireland head coach said: “I don’t know about the players, but I would be very much a glass half-full person”.

Moody is confident that England can use the disappointment of their last two performances to pull off the upset victory.

“It was only the year of the World Cup that we won the Grand Slam“, added Moody.

“It’s got to be a mental headset for England that this is a massive game for them”.

In fact, there are certain parallels to draw between England’s current downturn and the setbacks suffered by Sir Clive Woodward’s charges, who would lift the Webb Ellis Cup in 2003, in the years preceding that tournament.

After the “scummy Irish” and the “s–” Welsh, Ireland’s potential Grand Slam was third or fourth on the agenda.

World Rugby has removed Marius van der Westhuizen as assistant referee for the Six Nations game between England and Ireland on Saturday because the South African attended an England training session this week. We’re excited and we want to finish the tournament on a good result.

“Someone who is now out of the game and not coaching.That use of mentors and specialist coaches in certain positions will happen more and more”.