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Captain Caelan Doris is braced for the “ultimate test” when Ireland begin their quest for an unprecedented third successive Guinness Six Nations title against rivals England.
The back-to-back champions are pre-tournament favourites and have won four of the past five meetings between the sides ahead of Saturday evening’s crunch clash in Dublin.
Underdogs England – World Cup semi-finalists in 2023 – lost seven of 12 Tests in 2024 and are bidding to ease pressure on head coach Steve Borthwick by springing a surprise following an unsuccessful autumn.
Despite that unconvincing record, Borthwick’s men ultimately denied Ireland consecutive Grand Slams thanks to a last-gasp 23-22 Twickenham win in round four of last year’s championship.
“It’s always the ultimate test coming up against these guys,” said Doris.
“There’s a rich history and a massive rivalry there over the last number of years.
“We’d had a pretty good run (last year), fourth round going in over there and there was a lot of belief, we also respected them massively and knew that there was a big performance brewing from them.
“They obviously hadn’t gone so well at that point but you look back six months prior to that and they’re in a World Cup semi-final.
“It’s similar now in that they’ve been on the wrong side of some of their results in the autumn but we have massive respect for them as a team and the quality in their squad.
“It’s going to be a big battle for us again tomorrow. They are always very abrasive, confrontational, strong set piece, very good lineout and maul and they maul more than most teams.
“Starting off here in Dublin against England, it doesn’t get much better or bigger than this.”
In his first selection standing in for Andy Farrell as head coach, interim boss Simon Easterby has opted to pick 21-year-old Sam Prendergast ahead of Jack Crowley at fly-half.
Prendergast made his Test debut as a replacement in Ireland’s win against Argentina in November before starting the subsequent victories over Fiji and Australia.
Doris insists the squad have a “lot of faith” in his “very confident” Leinster team-mate.
“He’s shown his quality, first of all at under-20s; some of the stuff he was capable of doing back then caught the eye definitely and he’s probably had quite a big reputation from that,” Doris said of Prendergast.
“He’s carried through and shown his quality at URC (United Rugby Championship), at European level and at international level in the autumn.
“It’s been a good ride for him and he’s a very confident guy and loves controlling the forwards, loves playing what’s in front of him, so there’s a lot of faith in him.”
No team has won three Six Nations titles in a row since the competition was expanded 25 years ago.
Back-rower Doris, who took over the captaincy from Peter O’Mahony before the autumn campaign, hopes to lead a historic championship triumph.
“It would be incredibly special,” said the 26-year-old. “It’s hard to cast your mind forward to that, given how big a game this is starting up.
“We don’t want to get ahead of ourselves, definitely, but we also realise that getting this weekend right is a crucial step if we want to go and do something special like that.
“I love being a part of this group. I’ve loved it for the last five years and every time I come back into camp there is excitement there.
“There are extra responsibilities now in the leadership role but I love it.”
