Laying down a marker to making it big in Japan

Having established that today’s summer showdown at Twickenham is about as far removed from a “warm-up” as a summer showdown can be, both the English and Irish camps have also made clear that this is a Test match that dare not be treated in isolation of the bigger picture.

For all the talk of the past two match-ups in the Six Nations, the first dominated by Ireland at Twickenham to secure the 2018 Grand Slam, the second last February when England gained their vengeance in brutal fashion, the respective head coaches have been at pains to point out that this is just another building block towards the great objective of hitting the ground running when their respective World Cup pool campaigns get under way in Japan next month.