Ireland ready to cheer on England: 'It'll be strange, but we'll have to, I guess'

Josh van der Flier admits that Ireland will be cheering on England, hoping for a miracle in Paris this evening that will see them become Six Nations Champions after doing their part with a bonus point 43-21 victory over Scotland.

Scotland have not been victorious at Lansdowne Road since winning 17-16 in February 1998 and saw their faint title hopes go up in smoke as Ireland ran in six tries to claim the triple crown.

It was Ireland’s 12th successive win over Gregor Townsend’s side, and since 1894, it is the 15th time that they have claimed the Triple Crown after they recovered from a stale start to their campaign in France five weeks ago.

The Leinster flanker says that they can now sit back with their job done and cheer on Steve Borthwick’s side, hoping that they can finally find some form in the tournament and pull off what will be seen as a shock victory.

“It’ll be strange, right, but we’ll have to, I guess. It’s one of the special days in green have been looking to be a part of a few of them, but, yeah, amazing performance from the lads and unbelievable atmosphere as well.

“It’s unbelievable. Especially, I think, where we came from starting the tournament, not how we wanted it. We’re probably up against it from then, and it kind of improved with a few good performances, and it’s a special day like this is incredible.

“It’s always tough when you lose a game, and you probably want to play the next week straight away and make up for it, but it was great to go play against England, obviously, a special day there.

“Andy Farrell was talking before this game about who was going to bring the physicality and bring an edge to the game. So that is what we were challenged with, and it was probably the physical battle that won it for us,” he said.