EDDIE JONES ramped up the psychological heat on England ahead of their ultimate Grand Slam test.
The Red Rose boss laid it on the line for his squad: “Do you want to be known as greats . . . or failures?”
England face Ireland today already crowned Six Nations champions.
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But winning a second successive title with a game to spare and beating Scotland by a record score is no longer the benchmark for success.
For Jones, it is all about toughening up for the World Cup where true champions like New Zealand win seven Tests in a row.
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ENGLAND expect Johnny Sexton to launch a series of high-ball bombs against their backs today.
Boss Eddie Jones knows just how to deal with the Ireland No 10’s aerial attack.
Aussie Jones said: “It will be raining high balls. “It will be kick and clap, the fans at the Aviva love that so we know what to expect.
“You have to prepare for the game and we know what Ireland will bring — a strong physical challenge at the breakdown, pressure on our nine and ten and high balls.”
England’s secret weapon could be Billy Vunipola.
The fit-again No 8 starts his first match of the Six Nations after his knee injury and will be lurking alongside full-back Mike Brown and wingers Anthony Watson and Elliot Daly, ready to deal with Sexton’s bombs.
And Vunipola’s bull-dozing power is sure to give the Irish plenty to think about.
Joe Schmidt’s side are without Sexton’s right-hand man, scrum-half Conor Murray.
The scrum-half was forced off with a shoulder stinger against Wales last weekend and is replaced by Connacht’s Kieran Marmion, 25, who makes only his second Test start.
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The players have bought into it — and many will also be spurred on by memories of what happened here in 2011.
England were crushed 24-8 in Dublin — and despite being gutted at losing the Grand Slam, had to hang around for a couple of hours before being presented with the Six Nations trophy when France beat Wales.
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Ben Youngs was England’s No 9 that day and admitted: “The thought of losing and going up to get a trophy just wouldn’t feel right.
“Although we have won the title this year we don’t feel like we’ve won it yet.
“And it won’t feel like that unless we get the result we want against Ireland.
“It was strange in 2011, we didn’t know we had won the Six Nations until after the Wales result.
“You shouldn’t use that as a fear but as a motivation.
“You’ve got to embrace it. Winning a Grand Slam is very hard to do so why waste that opportunity? All this week has been about attacking it, embracing it and getting excited about it — our motivation is huge.
“We have a chance to win back-to-back Grand Slams and to be a team that people see as a great side. That’s enormous motivation.”
Ireland will no doubt have taken notice of all the fighting talk coming out of the England camp this week.
And they were the side who halted New Zealand’s world record 18-match winning run in October — the run which England can surpass with victory here in Dublin today.
But Youngs, 28, is convinced that nothing the Irish can throw at England will surprise them.
The Leicester scrum-half, who wins his 70th cap today, said: “I don’t see us necessarily being shocked by another team’s intensity.
“I like to think that the way we have attacked the last 18 games, we’ve come out with intent and intensity and done the right things bar a few matches.
“We’ll be looking to impose ourselves and our game rather than wait for the opposition to dictate the tempo.
“We would much rather be the ones doing that and go out and attack it rather than waiting to see what the pace of the game is like.
“You don’t want to put yourself in a position where you’re chasing the game early on — as we were in 2011. We won’t be doing that.
“Ireland took the All Blacks in Chicago and it’s a message to us that they’re a side who are more than capable of getting results.”
Even though this side have won 18 games on the bounce and equalled that All Blacks record, by 7pm tonight they will either be great champs . . . or great chumps.
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