England and Ireland have been playing one another in rugby union internationals since 1875 with with England winning the first match at the Oval, London, by two goals to nil. In earlier times a goal was awarded after a try and a conversion. The two countries have played 142 Test matches, with England winning 81 of them, Ireland 53, and 8 draws. However, since rugby union went professional in 1995, the head-to-head is closer. The countries have met 34 times since then with England winning 19 and Ireland 15.
Ireland’s 23-22 loss to England was the only setback to retaining the championship last year and the team in fact improved its points differential slightly over the Grand Slam year of 2023, but the gap with other countries was huge (in 2024, it was +84 compared to second-placed France at just +6). Now they are hoping to make it an historic third. No country has ever won the Six Nations Championship three years in a row since the expansion at the turn of the millennium, and indeed in the entire history of the championship before that, when shared championships were quite common, none won it outright as sole winners for three years running.
Temporary boss Simon Easterby, however, is relishing the three-in-a-row challenge ahead of Saturday’s game against England at the Aviva. He said: ‘‘It has never been done and it’s pretty difficult to do. That’s exciting in a way. It’s a challenge, something that would be an unbelievable achievement if it happened. I’m massively motivated by that challenge, as are the players, but we also understand that we have to get a lot of things right to make sure that happens.’’
Ireland traditionally have felt a bit more confident in the years that they host both the English and the French. But 2024 was an alternate year, one in which they had a famous win in Marseille and came so close at Twickenham, while Scotland put up a great fight in Dublin in their own bid for a Triple Crown. There are no guarantees anymore, as was seen with Italy beating both Scotland and Wales and drawing against France last year.
Easterby, who is standing in as interim Irish coach while Andy Farrell is preparing for the British and Irish Lions tour of Australia in the summer, named his named team today, with 21-year-old Leinster out-half Sam Prendergast getting his Six Nations debut in that pivotal No. 10 shirt. The teams and replacements for Saturday are as follows –
Ireland: Hugo Keenan; Mack Hansen, Garry Ringrose, Bundee Aki, James Lowe; Sam Prendergast, Jamison Gibson-Park; Andrew Porter, Rónan Kelleher, Finlay Bealham; James Ryan, Tadhg Beirne; Ryan Baird, Josh van der Flier, Caelan Doris (capt).
Replacements: Dan Sheehan, Cian Healy, Thomas Clarkson, Iain Henderson, Jack Conan, Conor Murray, Jack Crowley, Robbie Henshaw.
England: Freddie Steward; Tommy Freeman, Henry Slade, Ollie Lawrence, Cadan Murley; Marcus Smith, Alex Mitchell; Ellis Genge, Luke Cowan-Dickie, Will Stuart; Maro Itoje (capt), George Martin; Tom Curry, Ben Curry, Ben Earl.
Replacements: Theo Dan, Fin Baxter, Joe Heyes, Ollie Chessum, Chandler Cunningham-South, Tom Willis, Harry Randall, Fin Smith.
