It's going to be great to see Launch back playing for England. Him and Courtney in the second row in 2013(?) was such a vibe.
I think Jones is right that Ire will be more cohesive. Certainly in attack, which isn't to say that Smith or someone might not pull a rabbit out of a hat for us. But you'd have to think that Ire are more likely to do some damage through good execution of planned strategy / moves.
That'd be a big blow - wonder what the shift would be in that case?
The only two things getting carried home this weekend are England in a sweet chariot and the average Irish supporter after three pints.
This is it in a nutshell. Neither set of fans being comfortable with the favourite tag says enough really.
How are these teams well matched?! Ireland are on an 11 win streak, which includes NZ, only broken by a top quality French side at home. England couldn't even turn over Scotland, barely beat Wales, and although beat SA recently that was more down to them missing 12 points worth of pens the anything else. Add to that the fact that we are missing loads of our experience and normal starters and I think we're pretty buggered. This one is Ireland's to lose.
A doubt, a major doubt or really optimistic he'll play depending on where you read. This is a game where everyone needs to be right on it and how many of Itoje, Curry, Sinckler and Dombrandt will even be at 95%? Launch and Lawes are high class players but with very little recent rugby under their belts.
Personnel wise it's definitely fairly even, in terms of ceilings:
