'England are an unbelievably tough team to play against' - Garry Ringrose

Leinster centre Garry Ringrose said Ireland will be relishing for a tough challenge against England as the two teams lock horns with each other at Twickenham Stadium in the fourth round of the Six Nations.

Ireland are the only team in the competition to have any chance of winning the Grand Slam after they won the first three matches and are at the top of the table.

On the other hand, England are moving to a transitional phase under Steve Borthwick and Jamie George as they had narrow wins over Italy and Wales before losing the Calcutta Cup game against Scotland with a 21-30 margin.

Despite Ireland's dominating performance in the campaign so far, Ringrose said his team will be wary of the threat England possess especially at Twickenham Stadium.

“You kind of need everything to go relatively well in terms of different aspects of the game,” said Ringrose to Irish Rugby's official website.

“When you enter their 22, it’s stating the obvious, but you’ve got to come away with three or five points, especially now with how they defend you have to be really good with the ball because they’ll put us under pressure no doubt.

“So, coughing up possession or giving turnovers will be detrimental to us, but probably they fell victim to that a little bit against Scotland with some of them unforced errors but their defence can cause that in teams.

“So, it’s a bit of everything. The pressure at the breakdown, their intensity, they make you work for everything, and it will kill our attack if we overcommit as well, so the breakdown will be huge.

“The kicking battle as well with George Ford, we’ve seen him rip teams apart with his kicking ability, so it’s getting the back-field right to deny them access is massive as well.

“Over in Twickenham they don’t give up much so you just need to be unbelievably clinical. We’re well aware of that challenge and then also England, whether it’s at home or away, especially the transition they’ve gone through or are going through, they are an unbelievably tough team to play against."

Ringrose himself is returning from a shoulder injury that kept him out of the first three matches. Even though he was part of their World Cup campaign last year in France, the injury has kept him on the sidelines since Leinster’s Champions Cup game against Leicester last month but now has returned to the training squad.

“It’s going well, it’s obviously been tough, missing out on being available for the last three games but the rehab is progressing well," he added.

“I’m hoping, all going well, to be available for the last two games. We have this week, the timing of the second down week is probably good to give an extra few days to hopefully get it right. That’s the plan, to be available.

“I’ve hurt that shoulder in the past but it was in the Leicester game where I picked up a couple of knocks on it. I was able to play the game through and only flagged it with the medics afterwards.

“It probably had some time for swelling and irritation to build up in the joint, and then a few things shut down that needed to get back firing again. Thankfully, the lads (in the medical team) have been all over it and helped me massively in the last couple of weeks.”