Ireland U20 full-back Henry McErlean says they're fully focused on Friday night's Round 4 meeting with Scotland in Glasgow, although he acknowledges that a potential Grand Slam decider against England next week is an "elephant in the room."
England lead the championship after three bonus-point wins from three, with defending champions Ireland still very well-placed in second, just one point back.
Richie Murphy's side face Scotland at Scotstoun on Friday night (live on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player), while England welcome France to Bath in the penultimate round of games.
And if both sides keep up their winning run, it would set up a mouthwatering winner-takes-all Grand Slam decider at Musgrave Park in Cork on Sunday 19 March.
"It is always the elephant in the room but as George [teammate George Hadden] was saying we are very moment-focused, looking ahead to the next game there isn't time to get ahead of ourselves," McErlean said.
"It’s a narrow timespan between each match so you don’t have time to be thinking [about England], we have this week to focus on Scotland, we don’t have any time to be thinking about England."
With no games last week, the U20 squad were able to see how they matched up with Andy Farrell's senior squad, training opposite them at Friday's open session at the Aviva Stadium, and coming through it in decent shape, scoring the first try of the mini-game.
It's the second time during the championship that the 20s have been able to pick the brains of the senior players, and the former St Michael's College man says they haven't lacked confidence against the world's number one side.
"In the first training session we played against them in the HPC, we ran that move where Hugo [Keenan] went through the middle [against France]. We ran the same move but the ref got in the way, and it was me running the move.
"Playing against the seniors was great, you can see why they are the number one in the world by the speed they play at.
"I spoke to Ross Byrne, I knew a few lads from Leinster previously, I knew how they play. I was playing full-back so it was just talking to him about the type of kick he puts in, Mack Hansen as well, you have to be on top of your game because if you shoot up they will just put the ball in behind you."
And McErlean says those sessions present a fine balance between competing and studying.
"You get a few where you are caught out and you think 'I must ask him after how could I improve.' You have five or six of those moments but by the end you only remember two or three. That two or three is always great information."
While he's the latest off the St Michael's College production line, McErlean grew up in Antrim and his early rugby education came at Ballymena, while he also hurled for Cushendall, before the family moved to Dublin when he was 12. Eventually, rugby took over.
"The hurling scene wasn't as strong in Michael’s," he laughs.
Since leaving school, he's impressed with Terenure College in the Energia All-Ireland League this season, and after coming on as a replacement in Ireland's opening U20 Six Nations win against Wales at Colwyn Bay, he's forced his way into the starting side at full-back for the latest victories versus France and Italy.
"I was very keen on making an impact [against Wales]. I knew that there were spaces there to run into but perhaps we just hadn't played into them.
"On the bench you can see it. It might be a bit harder in-game. Coming on I knew where we could potentially have a bit of leverage on them so that was the plan.
"I would like to think that I am reliable under the high ball and if there is outside space I will go after it. I wouldn't just take the contact I would always be trying to play to the space, putting another lad into space; try and break the line, be a bit explosive in trying to break through, not just normal carries up the middle."
Watch live coverage of Scotland U20 v Ireland U20 (Friday 7.15pm) on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player, or follow our live blog on RTÉ.ie/Sport and the RTÉ News app.
