ANDY FARRELL is preparing his side for a tough trip to Twickenham this weekend as the hunt for back-to-back Grand Slams continues.
Ireland only have England and Scotland left to beat before securing the esteemed honour for a second year in-a-row.
However, England received a boost prior to this Six Nations with ex-Ireland star Felix Jones added to their coaching staff.
Jones had great success with South Africa being involved in the set-up for both of their World Cup wins in 2019 and 2023.
It was confirmed that he would leave the Springboks to join Steve Borthwick’s backroom staff during the competition.
While it was first unclear as to what role Jones was going to play in the England set-up, at the start of January it was confirmed that he would be their defence coach.
Seeing how the former Munster full-back got on with South Africa, it was well expected that he would be a huge asset to Steve Borthwick and co.
England had a solid start to the campaign with wins over Italy and Wales but fell to defeat in their third clash against Scotland.
While Ireland will be highly expected to beat them this weekend, fans still acknowledge that Jones is a potential problem for Farrell’s side.
He’s still only 36 years of age, having been forced to retire early in 2015 due to a neck problem.
After immediately launching himself into coaching with Munster as a technical coach in 2016, he graduated to being the province’s backs coach in 2017.
After departing Munster for The Springboks, Rassie Erasmus then reconnected with him by hiring him as a consultant in 2019.
So he’s already been part of World Cup-winning backroom teams on TWO occasions.
Borthwick said of bringing Jones onboard: “I am tremendously excited to start working with Felix who is a coach with an incredible reputation and with vast experience in international rugby.
“With his background in Irish rugby and his wealth of knowledge operating in the southern hemisphere he will bring a different dimension to our coaching team.”
Jones has proven Borthwick right since linking up with the side and a few weeks after this he paid another gesture to the 36-year-old.
HIGH PRAISE
Borthwick said: “He’s one of the most intense people I have ever met. And if I can tell you that, it’s saying something.
“Meeting with him, being on the phone with him, having a conversation with him for an hour, and not getting a word in because he has so much rugby knowledge it is unreal, and a work ethic that is astounding.
“I don’t know whether he sleeps, because the amount of material that he works through, the amount he sends me, what he talks about.
“And he has the knowledge. We were sat the other day looking at some stuff on his laptop, where he was picking apart an area of the game, an area of contact, and showing things that I don’t think I’ve ever heard any other coach discuss.
“When he presented to the players last week, the room had that deathly silence.
“When a coach is presenting up front, I usually come down the sides just to be able to scan across the players.
“They were hardly blinking, and transfixed by what he was saying. That ability to do that is superb.”