It almost gets forgotten that Ireland were already Six Nations champions before they claimed a famous Grand Slam victory in Twickenham in 2018.
The team produced one of their best showings under Joe Schmidt to claim the country's third ever clean sweep.
They attacked with purpose and precision – CJ Stander’s try standing out – and defended with tenacity and discipline when England tried to mount a comeback.
It played out in a blizzard of snow in front of a large Irish contingent on St Patrick's Day.
But the trophy had already been secured thanks to an Irish victory over Scotland in round 4 combined with England’s defeat to France later on the same day.
There was a series of results that could have scuppered Ireland’s championship hopes on the final day last season with France starting off just four points behind but Andy Farrell’s side eventually got the job done against 14-man England.
And after three bonus-point wins and results elsewhere, Ireland can once again claim the title with a round to spare.
Another five-point haul would mathematically secure the championship although such is their points difference (+75), any win would be a de facto title-clincher.
"It would be class. It would be unreal," said Caelan Doris about the prospect.
"We haven't spent too much about that, it's been largely about improving our performances.
"We are aware of what’s at stake and what we can but it’s about our performance. If we get that right the result will look after itself."
Standing in their way is an England side who are still finding their feet under Steve Borthwick, who has former Ireland international and double World Cup-winning assistant Springboks coach Felix Jones in the defence role.
They eked out wins over Italy and Wales before their limited game plan was exposed against Scotland last time out.
Ireland, on an 11-game winning streak in the championship, are currently 11-point favourites to record a fifth consecutive victory over the Red Rose.
"They are a week further down the line with their coaching group now, they’ll be a week further understanding what it is they are really about," said 36-year-old loosehead Cian Healy (above), in line for his 128th cap.
"You can see the power game, you can see the energy within the group.
"I’m sure they will feel they haven’t represented themselves to the best of their abilities just yet. What an occasion to click and show it.
"It’s a good coaching group, they are clear in what they need to do and there’s a lot of power in their side.
"We are very conscious of the mentality we need to have to make sure we are able to perform with that pressure."
Five of Doris’ 39 caps have come against England and despite their unconvincing form to date, the Mayo man, who turns 26 next month, says there is no danger of taking anything for granted and that they have many areas to work on after their wins over Italy and Wales, which came on the back of an almost perfect victory in France.
"Our discipline was pretty poor, that stands out," said the Leinster back row.
"We’d 14 penalties and it’s traditionally been a strength of ours but over the last three games it hasn’t been there. We’ve conceded more penalties so far than we did in the whole competition last year.
"We’ve been trying to get back to where we were and not giving away silly penalties.
"When you play on the edge at the opposition breakdown you are bound to give away a couple, but you need to eliminate the silly ones.
"In attack, we put a lot of focus into the detail of our shape, some of that took a backward step.
"It was a reminder, going into the last two games, that we can’t take it for granted.
"We need to keep priming it, makes sure it’s an area that gets attention."
There is always a special atmosphere around England-Ireland meetings and Doris can’t wait for Saturday to come.
"Twickenham is a pretty exciting place to go, you always get a good atmosphere, there's plenty of Irish over in London," he added.
"We always get a good 'home’ following over there as well and they make themselves heard, too.
"It’s obviously an iconic stadium, you get dropped off by the bus in the midst of a load of English and some Irish fans and you make a walk down through the stadium so you get a sense of the atmosphere building an hour or two pre-kick off. We are ready for that.
"I remember as a young fella watching some of the big games, that Croke Park one, some of the ones in Twickenham.
"Then, in my playing career, we’ve had some great battles. We've come out the right side in the last two or three games but they’ve always been close and gone down to the last few minutes.
"They’ve had red card against us in the last couple of games but even still, they are a pretty resilient bunch. It’s galvinised them in some ways and it’s comes down to the last five-ten minutes. We’re expecting the same this weekend."
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