ireland to stick with ‘boring’ approach’ says skipper Rory Best

Ireland face England in their Championship opener in Dublin on February 2 as they bid to become the first Irish side to achieve back-to-back Grand Slams.

The number two ranked side in the World are favourites to retain the title following their success in Australia last summer and a win over New Zealand during a clean sweep of Test victories during the November Test series.

However, Best insists that the win over the current back-to-back World Champions does not give them the right to expect more success .

“Beating New Zealand does not give us the right to expect to beat England in a week and a half’s time,” Best said at the tournament launch in London yesterday.

“Not even to beat Scotland a week later or Italy.

“We know that (win over New Zealand) is something that can stimulate confidence and belief, but ultimately we know our confidence and belief is founded on the was we prepare.

“That is what we are doing. The boys are in Portugal at the minute, a little bit of down time, but there is a lot of hard work going in to making sure when we meet at Carton House next week we are ready to win a massive Six Nations game.

“That was the approach we did last year for the Six Nations and the games in the summer and November.

“People may say it is boring, but we are under no illusions about how we are going to go about it. We have to make sure we win each small moment we can leading up to the game,” said Best.