With a two-week gap between Ireland's third and fourth fixtures in this year’s Guinness Six Nations, Saturday at Twickenham will be a tone-setter for both themselves and England in their final two games of the championship.
The expectation was that Ireland would be heading to Twickenham looking to derail the Grand Slam-chasing chariot, but England’s surprise defeat at the hands of Scotland last week has muddied the waters somewhat.
A win for Ireland in London on Saturday (2.10pm, live on RTÉ) could leave them ready to pounce on any unlikely France slip-up, but at the very least put them in the box seat for a second-place finish and a Triple Crown.
Defeat would likely mean another third-place finish, at best.
Two years ago, Ireland went to Twickenham with everyone expecting a routine win and a penultimate step towards a second consecutive Grand Slam. Fast forward 23 months and Andy Farrell’s side are underdogs.
Ireland laboured to a 20-13 win against an admittedly much improved Italy on Saturday, but the story of the weekend was how England capitulated against Scotland at Murrayfield, going 17-0 down inside 14 minutes before ultimately losing 31-20.
And ahead of his first Twickenham experience, Osborne (above) is relishing the chance to play in this "hugely exciting" fixture.
"I think any sport, Ireland vs England is a proper game," the full-back said, after Saturday’s win against Italy.
"England at Twickenham, you've seen how good they've been recently at home, they played very well last week against Wales and I think they're losing now [v Scotland], but they're a team with very high confidence and we're probably a team that is starting to build now.
"We're coming into it a little bit differently but I can't wait to get stuck into them if I am selected. I think we're building something good here."
Should he be selected, Saturday's game would be Osborne's first time playing England, having missed out on selection for last year's championship opener at Aviva Stadium.
It's been a frustrating season for the 24-year-old, who came into the campaign off the back of a late British and Irish Lions call-up (below).
The versatile back played four games for club and country at full-back before picking up a shoulder injury which ruled him out until the start of this month, but he believes he's ready to kick on after getting two tough Test matches under his belt
"I felt good last week going into the game and I felt better this week again after another week of training, so I think it's another experience," he said.
"A lot of credit has to be given to the medical team at Leinster and even the week of camp in Portugal I probably did a lot more extras around contacts and stuff than I would usually do just because I haven't had that.
"So by the time I was going into the game I was feeling good and it's a credit to them and the work they did."
Having endured a difficult night in Paris in Round 1, Osborne looked much sharper in the 15 jersey on Saturday, and got his side on the board with their opening try in the first half, while he and the rest of the team were far more assured under the high ball.
It was still a clunky Ireland performance overall, and their struggles were in large part down to a scrum which struggled badly during the middle third of the game.
Farrell (above) had publicly criticised his side’s lack of intent during in the previous defeat to France, and that message appears to have been the key theme of the week, as Osborne repeated the word no less than four times when speaking after Saturday’s win.
"Andy alluded to the intent factor last week and how it wasn't really there and I think it wasn't perfect today, but I think we brought a lot more intent," he said.
"We had some very nice passages of play and it might have been a wide breakdown or the last pass that we'd be come undone by, but I thought it was a lot more positive anyway.
"And I know there's a lot to work on but I think we can be pleased with the intent part of the game.
"They're a good side [Italy], we didn't take them lightly at any stage.
"In the autumn, they obviously beat Australia, pushed South Africa, they’d great win last week against Scotland in tough conditions, so I don't think anyone should be looking at Italy now as a weaker team, I think they're definitely right up there."
And the Leinster back pointed to Ireland’s late defensive stand to deny Italy a draw as an example of the side’s attitude, even if their execution was lacking.
He said: "It was such a team effort at the end, I think we'll learn a lot about how we can manage that better and hope that we don't put ourselves in those positions because, probably around discipline and just giving them access, we could definitely be better there.
"But I think the effort and the intensity at that stage in the game was top notch.
"I think as a team we probably felt better. It's all part of the same, the intent last week was a bit off, everyone was a bit off it seems. so I think everyone's feeling better."
Watch England v Ireland in the Six Nations on Saturday from 1pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on the RTÉ News App and on rte.ie/sport. Listen to commentary on Saturday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1
