Andy Farrell's Ireland side need a strong start, a solid scrum and aerial supremacy to beat England

A level of unfathomable arrogance, over confidence, and self-elevated importance, brought English rugby to its knees against Scotland.

Prior to the Scotland Vs England game last weekend, I listened to a podcast called, The Good the bad and the Rugby. 

Hosted by TV presenter Alex Payne where former England internationals James Haskell and Mike Brown were tasked with chatting about the Scotland and English game and to say they were over confident would be putting it mildly.

Too strong, too powerful, too focused, too much X factor, too many lessons learned for it to happen again.

France are the only team who are close to England’s level, Greger Townsend (Scottish coach) is done and his players have checked out.

Brothwick (English coach) and his players are just too good. 

These are just some of the foolish and egotistical comments that were passed during the recording.

Now, I have many good friends across the water and I hope this doesn’t offend them, but if the English ever wanted a beautifully unscripted example of why most of the world despise them.

All they need do is have a good listen to this podcast and they just might start to understand.

I won’t say they are stupid, but how many times do they need to be reminded that in a two horse race anything can happen and especially in a race where there is so much bad blood and history.

English rugby is littered with so many examples of where they ran out as odds on favourites and departed looking as if someone had just stolen all their lunch money. 

I very much realise the importance of been confident, however, English rugby has always taken this to the extremities and in doing so have given their opponents way too much ammunition to launch a worthy challenge against them.

Because of the numbers they have playing the game and the resources they have at their disposal, if they just shut up and got on with their business they would have easily have won three World Cups by now, but they just cant help themselves.

Hopefully, England’s attitude going into tomorrow's tussle against Andy Farrell and his players will be just as blinkered, but surely the men in white will have learned something from their humbling performance from last weekend and I do think they will approach this game with a completely different mind-set.

Opting to name their team on Tuesday, Brothwick has decided to give the very talented but all too often annoying Henry Pollock his first full international start.

Northampton’s Pollock has probably more talent and ability then all that combined of his fellow players, however, if there is one player on this English team that you would want to see dropping the ball as he was diving over for the winning score, Pollock would be that man.

Once again a very high level of English egotism seems to flow through the twenty one year old's veins, and his ability to get under the skin of those opposing him is unrivalled by any other player on any other side. 

As he is such a unique talent I do hope that someone is looking after him and schooling him in how he should be conducting himself on and off the pitch. 

I’ve seen way too many players with talent like his throw it all away because of their idiotic tendencies and at this moment in time, rugby needs players like Pollock.

Farrell and his coaches will have studied how Scotland managed to score three tries in the opening twenty six minutes of their game against England and what he will have noticed is that they do not like pressure.

England are the kind of side that if you give them any bit of room to gather up a head of steam they have the ability to rip you to sheards with their powerful midfield runners and blistering speed out wide.

Their backrow do not have a lot of experience of playing as a unit, but individually they are all finely honed humans who are not afraid to put their heads where you’d question putting a brick.

Presuming that Jack Crowley will be wearing the number ten jersey for this game, it is going to be imperative that the Bandon man keeps the ball behind the English forwards as much as possible.

As sure as night follows day England will go after the Irish scrum and who would blame them.

A source of much concern for this Irish side, Ireland's scrum was completely demolished by Italy last weekend and unless they can find away to deal with the concentrated efforts that the English eight will launch at them, they will have very little hope of winning this game.

Both sides had much of their self-esteem tarnished by how they performed last weekend and both will be wanting to right their wrongs.

Ireland will certainly be rated as underdogs for this one, but I think that is exactly how they’d want it.

A strong start, a solid scrum and aerial supremacy is all they will need to rattle this English side. 

If they can achieve these three factors, England’s self-inflated inclinations will do the rest and Ireland will leave Twickenham in a very joyful bus.