Kidney rallies Ireland charges as ranking comes into play at Twickenham

Ireland head coach Declan Kidney has urged his players to end their RBS 6 Nations campaign on a high with a victory over England at Twickenham today.

The main event in terms of the championship may be in Cardiff this afternoon, when Wales play France seeking to win the Grand Slam, but Kidney insisted there was plenty on the line for both sides in London with a summer tour to New Zealand looming and vital world rankings points up for grabs ahead of this November’s pool draw for the 2015 World Cup.

A victory over England today could see Ireland jump to fifth place from seventh while a defeat might see them fall to eighth and give the English a chance to hang onto fourth spot, a position which would mean the World Cup’s next hosts would avoid the south hemisphere big guns in the top three positions.