Ireland U20 assistant Mark Sexton says they won't be advising their players to start playing it safe in the final legs of this year's Six Nations.
With two games to play, Ireland's fate is in their own hands; win against both England and Scotland and the title and Grand Slam is theirs, a second Six Nations championship in the last three seasons.
The Wolfpuppies have been highly impressive in their opening three games; hammering both Wales and Italy at Musgrave Park, either side of a first away win against France in 10 years.
But while England slipped to a shock defeat to Italy in Round 2, they have eased past both Scotland and Wales, and a win against Ireland would put them right back in the hunt to retain their championship.
"I think at any level England away is an unbelievable challenge. You look at the U20s side, beating Scotland and Wales comprehensively at home, it's going to be a huge challenge," said Sexton, the U20's backs and skills coach.
"You could say it about a lot of teams, but if they get on the front foot they're going to cause you trouble, but especially England.
"Their two wingers are incredibly big and fast, as is their 15 (Harry Arundell) who has been playing a bit for London Irish, he’s one of their standout players. If you stand up to them, like any other match, you win the gainline, you slow down the ruck ball and it becomes an even contest.
"If your discipline is good, it’s another way of stopping their entry to your territory. Picking and choosing what breakdown to go after, being disciplined and legal in the way you go after it as well is absolutely important, and if you're going in and not winning the ball you have to make it your job to slow it down."
A younger brother of Ireland men's captain Johnny Sexton, Mark has worked through the underage coaching ranks at Leinster, and is now coaching Connacht's 'Eagles' side as well as being an elite player development officer.
While working with the backs in the Irish set-up, his broader skills remit also sees him spend plenty of time with the forwards, who have had a considerable size disadvantage against all three opponents thus far, and will again on Saturday against England.
Although the Irish forwards have traditionally been lighter than their opponents, this year's crop have looked extremely comfortable on the ball, with the likes of hooker James McCormick, second row Mark Morrissey and back rows James Culhane and Reuben Crothers able to create space through passing and distributing.
"I suppose we do a lot of unit skill sessions, so you would see the forwards and backs, and we would pay particular interest to our skills in general sessions. You'd have equal time with backs and forwards.
"In our training sessions we’d put particular focus on the core skills of the game, not just catch-pass, but tackle entry, carries, kicking, all of those closed skills.
"I think we’re always looking to get better at every area of the game. Teams that have gone before, and the teams that go after will always pay particular attention to the fundamentals of the game.
"I don’t know if it’s something we’ve put extra focus into because I’m sure every coach who has gone before has done the exact same," he added.
With 109 points scored and 15 tries across their opening three games, Ireland have played adventurous rugby during this campaign, with emphasis placed on the reward over the risk, something Sexton says won't change in the next two games.
"They've been given free rein for the whole competition so far that if it’s on you have to go and try to get the space. If it’s in our own 10 metres and there is space to attack, we go for the space.
"If it’s the right decision then we’ll back our players, the outcome is irrelevant.
"We were quietly confident in our own ability, and we are improving. They haven’t really surprised us, I think we’re getting better each game."
Follow all of Ireland's Six Nations games via our live blogs on rte.ie/sport and on the RTÉ News App or listen to live radio coverage on RTÉ Radio 1. Watch live coverage of England v Ireland on Saturday 12 March (4.45pm) on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player.
