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After the win over Wales, Ireland are 40 per cent of the way towards a Grand Slam.

But now the toughest stretch of the Six Nation awaits, with trips to Twickenham and Paris to come.

Next up is England and former Ireland international Trevor Hogan is quietly optimistic that Joe Schmidt's side can go there and claim victory.

"I'm hugely optimistic because of that perception of Ireland's strengths being across the board. England are going to be so concerned in so many areas and depending on which one they focus on, we'll have something else to use. We've got so many strengths across that squad now. I'd be really optimistic, especially looking at England. I think they do have some really good strengths but in the midfield I don't think they have too much threats," said Trevor who cited Vunipola and Danny Care as the players to watch out for.

Like Trevor, Bernard Jackman was delighted by Ireland's maul against Wales and thinks aspects of it could work well against England. 

Ireland's Rob Kearney with Leigh Halfpenny of Wales ©INPHO/Morgan Treacy

"What you have with Ireland is a real variety and Wales didn't know what Ireland were going to do. It's basically playing mind games and making the opposition think a little bit more. When the opportunity is there to jackal, it's absolutely aggressive. We've shown real variety in our attack and defence. It's going to make us more unpredictable. Definitely the lineout maul is an area of strength and if England really focus on everybody trying to smash that, Ireland will exploit the space down the blindside or in between the 10 channel for sure. The tactical insights that we're getting for a rugby nerd, I'm loving what Joe Schmidt's bringing."  

However, Trevor pointed out that England will not defend as poorly as Wales, especially as their maul nor will kicking be as useful at Twickenham in two weeks' time.

"It's interesting because England have a similar maul setup to Ireland. There's a subtle little manoeuver that Ireland are using, which England use similarly. Outside of that, Ireland's maul is much more aggressive and dominant than the English one," said Trevor.

"It will be in the mind of the English that they've either got to stay on the ground which will open up options for peels or if they try to go in the air, then they know that they'll be under pressure. Once you go in the air, which is what Wales did at times, you're wide open."  

 

Main image: Ireland's Peter O'Mahony tackled by Andrew Coombs of Wales ©INPHO/Dan Sheridan