Croke Park, Saturday!!

How important is this game for England on Saturday? So often games are labelled as crucial, vital, must win etc etc, and for the vast majority of the time, they are not! This game, however, falls into that category, and more, because with no exaggeration, it is pivotal to England and their progress towards the World Cup.
The importance has nothing to do with the stadium, the history or the emotion however, and that is meant in no way as a slight. It is pivotal down to the very impact it will have, one way or the other, on the England players, management, media and fans.
The peripheral issues needed to be and have been addressed. Yes, there needs to be an understanding of the terrible history all those years ago, there needs to be a sensitivity towards the impact that has had on so many lives ad so many views. But let's also be brutally honest, once that has been taken on board, and digested by the players who will walk out for England on Saturday, it has to then be consigned to the memory bank, as it is not relevant to them and the rugby match they are about to play. And a rugby match is all it is. The players who are on the pitch are English, and very proud to be, but they are not related, not supportive, and certainly not interested in being associated with the events all those years ago.
So I fervently hope that the game is seen in perspective, and not as some opportunity to avenge, to punish or to abuse a team who have come with the sole purpose of trying to win at sport.
I do believe all the hype and emotion will impact far more on the Irish team that the English however, as it has been such a painful memory threaded into their daily lives, it is an issue so topical to the communities that they live in, and as such the emotion will reverberate far deeper than with the English who have not had to deal with decades of hurt.
So the pressure is very much on O'Driscoll and his team, not only to win, but to shoulder the burden of massive expectation and passion, not all of it healthy, and to deal and control this alongside the normal pressure and emotional turmoil of a rugby International. No mean feat that!
And for England, the opportunity in rugby terms to catapult their confidence ten fold up the ladder, and to give themselves the chance to face the French at home, unbeaten, confident and settled, not a thought many would have entertained in dark November!
It is one hell of a day coming our way, and one hell of a ride coming the players way. I hope we get some close ups early on of the eyes, because it is there that I think we will get our first indications of who ,and who has not, got control on their emotions and focus!!!