England driven by last year’s heartbreak

Chris Robshaw has told his England side it is time they won some silverware and says the memory of watching Ireland lift the Six Nations trophy a year ago will spur his side on in Dublin.

England won handsomely in Rome on the final day of last season’s tournament but had to wait to discover their fate, watching Ireland’s game in Paris while at their post-match dinner.

A win for the French would have given England the title but Joe Schmidt’s men prevailed 22-20 and pictures of Robshaw and his team-mates watching the game featured heavily in the following day’s newspapers.

That ensures England have an added motivation heading into Sunday’s huge clash at the Aviva Stadium, and after three successive second-place finishes, the England captain has told his side the time for being plucky losers is over.

“The worst bit of last year was probably seeing it happen, then be photographed doing it and being put across every paper — the extreme of the two camps,” said Robshaw.

“When you’re sat there thousands of miles apart, you’re pretty helpless. It was tough to take. We all had a beer together after and said ‘we’ve got to continue learning from this. We are getting better but it’s one thing getting better, you’ve got to be picking up that silverware’.

“Silverware matters to everyone. As a player, you want to be judged on what you’ve won. It’s all well and good picking up caps and playing x amount of times for your country, which is incredible, but you want to win stuff. You want to win stuff for your country and be top of the pile come the end. No matter what it is, no matter what competition you’re playing, you always want to be seen as successful.”

And Robshaw is the first person in the England camp to admit the Grand Slam is definitely on if they win in the Aviva.

“Both sides know what this game means,” he said. “I think both sides are fully aware there’s two unbeaten sides going into it and so if you come out on top you put yourself in a very good position. So that’s exactly what we’ve got to do. Both teams are pretty evenly matched. We’ve had a two-week build-up for this week. We’re ready for it.”