Ireland centre pairing Bundee Aki and Robbie Henshaw insist that England are still "world class" opposition despite their stuttering start to this year's Six Nations.
England have opened with two away games, losing away to France in Paris despite a late surge and then grinding out a win in dismal conditions against Scotland in Murrayfield.
Speaking at today's press conference in Dublin, they insisted that Ireland would need to be clinical to claim a second successive Six Nations win at Twickenham.
"Whenever you play England, it's going to be tough," sighed Aki.
"Even though they lost to France, but still England are still a world class team.
"France are just making strides as well, they're a class team as well. England are a tough, quality side and they've world class players all over the park."
For Henshaw, replicating France's defensive performance, orchestrated by new defence coach Shaun Edwards, will be central to enabling Ireland to perform at the weekend.
"Under Shaun Edwards, France's defence has been pretty good. You saw their line-speed was good in that game. Putting England under pressure in tricky conditions was key for France.
"And then there was a key moment when France got a breakaway try when the players might have thought the game had stopped but it was open play.
"In all test games, there's going to be key moments where one team has to be more clinical than the other and you have to be able to take your opportunities when you're given them.
"Across the whole group, we have players who are able to step up in big moments and produce the goods. Looking at Jordan, for his first try against Wales, he produced a good step and finished off well to get us off the scoreboard.
"We have big players who can produce big moments and we all need to be able to do that.
Follow England v Ireland (kick-off 3pm) on Sunday via our live blog on RTE.ie/Sport and the News Now app or listen live on RTÉ 2fm. Highlights on Against the Head, Monday at 8pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player.
