Peter O'Mahony: We're expecting to face best-version of England

Playing for a Grand Slam against England on Saturday was always part of Ireland’s plan at the outset of this Guinness Six Nations campaign but Peter O’Mahony is no mood to get caught up in title talk just yet and is expecting to face the best version of Steve Borthwick’s side at Aviva Stadium.

Ireland’s march to the verge of a first championship and clean sweep since 2018 under Joe Schmidt has been gathering momentum steadily since current head coach Andy Farrell and his squad laid out their goas for the 2023 Six Nations at their pre-tournament training camp in Portugal at the end of January.

They will go into Saturday’s final-round sell-out clash as favourites to add a fifth victim to their list following bonus-point wins over Wales, France and Italy as well as a hard-fought 22-7 victory against the odds in Scotland last Sunday after overcoming the loss of five frontline players at Murrayfield, two of them hookers, forcing prop Cian Healy to scrum in the middle of the front row and flanker Josh van der Flier to throw lineouts for the entire second half in Edinburgh.

Their progress to a Grand Slam decider has cemented their position as World Rugby’s top-ranked side and they are set to face an England side hammered last time out in a record 53-10 defeat at home to the French.

Veteran back-rower O’Mahony, though, will not fall into the trap that victory on Saturday is a foregone conclusion and that this final-round fixture represents the biggest challenge of all.

“We were speaking at dinner last night about how we were on the plane to Portugal and it felt like last week, and it's eight weeks or whatever and it's gone in the blink of an eye,” O’Mahony said. 

“That's normally a good sign that you're enjoying yourself and things are obviously very enjoyable when you're winning, but we're under no illusions that this week is going to be the biggest week of them all.

“We're certainly expecting the very best from an English performance standard point of view.” 

O’Mahony, 33, is set to win his 94th Ireland cap this Saturday and he referenced his British & Irish Lions experience on tour in New Zealand in 2017, as he addressed the suggestion that England were a shell of their former selves in this year’s Six Nations.

“Yeah, I’m not buying it. I’ve been lucky enough to play alongside a big chunk of that English team and I know how proud they are. I know how proud they are to play with their country. I know what quality of player they are, quality of person they are and how important it would be for them to put on a performance for themselves more than anyone, to show themselves the potential that I certainly know they have, but that’s the challenge for us.

“We’re expecting the best version of those English boys to come to the Aviva on Saturday and to perform and to do that we know we’ve got to be at our very best so I’m certainly not buying that.” 

The Munster captain, part of that 2018 Grand Slam-winning team at Twickenham, was also asked on Wednesday how much winning one on home soil would mean to him.

“It would mean a huge amount but me sitting here talking about it isn’t going to help me perform on Saturday.

“The plan for us is performance, performance, performance, go after the game, play to win and give it our very best shot. Look, if that isn’t enough then fair play.”