Familiarity has yet to dull Crown's lustre

How to put a tilt at another Triple Crown in perspective? In the context of Irish rugby, winning a third Triple Crown in the same generation, never mind in just a four-year span, would be a unique achievement, given there have never been more than two in the same decade.

Indeed, but for the 32-20 defeat in Cardiff two years ago to the Grand Slam-seeking Welsh, Ireland would now be one game away from four Crowns in a row, something achieved only once in the championship, by Wales from 1976 to 1979.

To some of those who want to see this Ireland team achieve more, that may merely underline that this is a particularly non-vintage era for the other home unions, and to a degree Ireland are now in the more rarefied air inhabited by England after the turn of the millennium.

In 2002, Clive Woodward and the English media hardly acknowledged their fourth Triple Crown in seven years before they reached their holy grail of a Grand Slam in 2003 en route to winning the World Cup.

Viewed in the context of the World Cup, the Ireland forwards coach, Niall O'Donovan, believes it would, however, be a significant achievement.

"It's huge. I've said this before: the more often we can win, it becomes a habit then, and especially in the year that's in it. The more games we can actually win in the build-up to the World Cup then the better we will be going into the World Cup.

"The Triple Crown is still a huge piece of silverware for us and I wouldn't turn my nose up at any silverware."

The priority remains a first Six Nations title since 1985, and to that end many among the Irish management, players and supporters could find themselves in the unusual position of rooting for England when they host the unbeaten leaders, France, on Sunday afternoon.

"You have to give England a chance at home in Twickenham," maintained O'Donovan. "There's no doubt about it, they're hurting from two weeks ago. A lot of good players there, a lot of talented guys there, so you would have to give England a chance."

Were Ireland to beat Scotland and England overcome the odds against France, it could leave the destination of the RBS Six Nations wide open and most likely down to points difference.

Thanks to the scale of the record win over England, Ireland's points difference (+39) is only marginally inferior to France's (+50) and ahead of England's (+5), though Ireland could be at a disadvantage on the final day given they play Italy before France host Scotland.

In any event, like most observers, the Ireland defensive coach, Graham Steadman, is none too hopeful about an English win on Sunday: "I just can't see it happening, to be honest. Having had a chat with one or two people I know who are part of the set-up there, I don't think they've got that belief within the squad, and there are several newcomers coming on board.

"It'll be interesting to see how young (Toby) Flood does in the outhalf position. He's going to take on a huge responsibility in terms of the outcome of that match. So I'd have to back against it because let's not forget the French are playing with a lot of confidence."

First up, though, is the task of beating Scotland and securing the Triple Crown. The return of Dan Parks could be a signal of Scottish intent to return to more of a kicking game, but Steadman is mindful of the wide-wide game beloved of Edinburgh under the Scotland coach Frank Hadden and tried with mixed results last autumn and against Italy.

Encouraged by the much-improved width and line speed in the Ireland defence against England, Steadman said the Irish defence had to be selective, and have the numbers, when putting pressure on the Scots: "They caused the Australians a fair few problems in the autumn because of the width they played with and because the middle three and four Australian defenders overcommitted and put pressure on the last two defenders. We've done our homework, we'll fine-tune things tomorrow (today) and that will take us into a good performance on Saturday."

Traditionally, the Scots have always been a low-to-the-ground, streetwise team at the breakdown, whether scattering opposition tacklers and counter-ruckers to all four corners of the ground or spoiling opposition ball.

In recognising this traditional strength of the Scottish game, skills coach Brian McLaughlin observed: "The key thing for us will be to carry well, to be aggressive in the carry and to lay back quality possession to play off. That's been our aim all year and it's no different this week."

A back spasm ruled Denis Hickie out of training yesterday, and so Geordan Murphy linked up as cover with the Ireland squad upon their arrival in Edinburgh last night.

Nonetheless, though Hickie has some little history with this problem, Murphy's addition is seen purely as precautionary.

"We reckon Denis will be fine," commented O'Donovan. "He pulled out of training, the docs are looking after him, but just as a precaution we pulled in Geordan."