England a worthy rival but Ireland can prevail, says Les Kiss

Ireland may have lost four times in a row to their next RBS 6 Nations opponents, but assistant coach Les Kiss refuses to believe England have the upper hand going into their March 1 showdown at the Aviva Stadium.

The reigning champions and pre-2015 tournament favourites concluded a two-day training camp in Galway yesterday with a bristling contact session open to the public at the Sportsground which attracted more than 3,000 supporters who will have come away from the experience in no doubt as to just how geared up for the clash with England their heroes will be in 10 days time.

Five days after the most bruising of physical encounters against a massive France side, when Joe Schmidt’s men mounted a successful defensive rearguard to hold on for an 18-11 win, there was no going through the motions in what is supposed to be a “down” week ahead of next week’s intense build-up to the round three matches.