Ireland beat Scotland in Murrayfield last weekend but the final score of 22-7 would suggest that it was much more comfortable than it really was.
Ireland had to find another level of resilience after enduring a number of injury-based blows to the team.
Farrell lost two of his world-class hookers, meaning Josh van der Flier had to throw into the lineout and Cian Healy had to scrummage at hooker.
It would have been very easy for Ireland to use that as an excuse and let the wind out of their sails. It took them about 15 minutes to weather the storm until they went back on the front foot.
They also lost Iain Henderson to a suspected fractured forearm and another world-class player in Caelan Doris quite early on. It looked like Ireland were finally going to be taken down.
It took the highest level of chaos to showcase just how much Ireland are prepared for any situation.
We learned that Van der Flier actually loves throwing the ball into the lineout and practices in training all the time.
A clever piece of admin putting Healy as a replacement hooker meant that Ireland didn't have to go to uncontested scrums and lose a player.
It makes sense to have someone else trained up to cover the hooker position in the scrum due to the newer laws around losing a player if uncontested scrums are needed, but it was still admirable in the moments where Irish supporters thought that their team was crumbling.
The most valiant effort and hard-fought win ensued, the scoreline flattering Ireland in the end, but they worked incredibly hard to pull through and deserved their win.
Scotland gave Ireland a good enough scare in the first half with their fast breakdown and attacking physicality. There will be lessons learned and deep reviews done to see how Ireland would cope with that pressure when the World Cup rolls around.
There were times in the first half that it was looking very ominous, as if Ireland were never going to stop the Scottish momentum, but Ireland came up with answers to relieve the pressure.
Heading back to Dublin to play England in a six-day turnaround, with half a dozen serious injuries and a Grand Slam on the line, Ireland will need the very best of their backroom team managing them through the week.
Although England were well below average on Saturday against the French, they have a huge opportunity to stop Ireland from winning a Grand Slam.
They’ll will be hurting from their biggest ever defeat at Twickenham and have to travel to the top-ranked team to try and turn their season around.
This enormous challenge brings a massive opportunity for them and they would revel in disrupting the Irish party, much like we have done to them in the past.
You’d have to wonder if England will change their gameplan coming to Dublin. Against France they seemed to rely on kicking high balls in the hope that Freddie Steward would be able to regain possession and get them on the front foot.
Even their electric out-half Marcus Smith kicked a woeful attempt at a high spiralling ball from a free-kick instead of launching their own attack.
They’ll have to do more than that to trouble the Irish back three and giving possession to Ireland will cause them trouble based on the Irish attack that we’ve seen so far.
Scotland troubled Ireland because of the pace that they moved the ball and the physicality they backed it up with. I’m not sure that England have the ability to play with that same pace.
They certainly can have the physicality, which they have shown in the past when derailing Irish progress.
It’s the key to stopping Ireland’s free-flowing attack and it might get England into a tight game in attack too.
England have been naive at the best of times with their coaching transition and the general confidence around their team. They don’t have time to be overly cute around their gameplan, but they could bludgeon their way to a win if they get parity in certain areas of the game.
Andrew Porter is still having some issues scrummaging on the loosehead side. If there’s any slight weakness in Ireland at the moment, England need to find out if that is one of them.
England will no doubt load up on their tighthead side to see if the scrum can give them entries into a game that nobody expects them to have a chance in.
Scrum-half is an issue for England. They don’t seem to have enough personality or influence in that position, not like we’ve seen with Ireland.
With the focus always coming back to England’s out-half position, I would be more interested in how they can take the pressure off by making improvements at scrum-half.
Steve Borthwick may well stick with Smith at out-half, but one thing is for sure, he needs to play Owen Farrell somewhere.
England’s only real phase of dominance came when Farrell came on to the pitch against France, keeping the ball for multiple phases before scoring a try. Farrell is a leader, a warrior and a very effective player. If you’re struggling with the gameplan, you have to at least have personality, and Farrell has that in abundance.
I’m not bashing England’s gameplan because they kicked the ball. France kicked the ball 41 times and destroyed England. It’s not a sin to kick the ball, it’s a sin to kick the ball poorly.
France had attacking kicks from 9, 10 and 13, resulting in line breaks and tries. England kicked the ball into the air without much return.
You can also effectively kick the ball into the air and win the game, but it has to be effective and you rely on winning the ball back at some stage. Look at how Mack Hansen won back possession to give Ireland the chance to put the Scottish game to bed.
England’s attack was also heavily disrupted by the Jonathan Danty masterclass in midfield. Physical, abrasive and an absolute pain in the breakdown.
Bundee Aki can play that role for Ireland. However, where Gregory Alldritt backed Danty up, Ireland will be hoping that Doris will be OK to do the same this weekend, despite Jack Conan playing his best game in quite a while from the bench.
Ireland will be tested with the six-day turnaround, considering Porter had to play 80 minutes and Tadhg Furlong played 65 having been out for three months. That’s going to take its toll, so too will the injury list.
However, Ireland have created a system where the next guy in can do a similar job. Ryan Baird is due a start, Conan will have great confidence from last week, Robbie Henshaw will start in the centre and Ireland’s hooker depth is embarrassingly healthy.
We still expect Ireland to go on and win this Grand Slam at home, but England will have a say in this game yet. It won’t be plain sailing, as Saturday wasn’t. That will make the win even sweeter.
Watch Scotland v Italy in the Six Nations on Saturday from 12.30pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player
Follow a live blog on Ireland v England on Saturday from 4pm on RTÉ.ie/sport and RTÉ News app and listen to live commentary on Saturday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1
