It was a Sunday in our palatial studio in Dublin 8. It was episode two of The Hard Yards, SportsJoe’s rugby podcast, where I was joined by Kevin McLaughlin and Pat McCarry with Donncha O’Callaghan on the line from Cork. It was a Six Nations Sunday. The weather was shite. Worse places to be than in a cosy little recording studio.

We talked about Ireland’s jaunt to Rome, Scotland resuming normal service with a Parisian loss, what the Irish players might think seeing the French doing a lap of honour, and that humdinger in Cardiff where England came away with win streak intact and Welsh hearts broken. And we talked about the try-scoring instinct of CJ Stander. Then someone mentioned Jamie Heaslip, and things got… emotional.

Hayley O’Connor popped in later, after the Heaslip love-fest, and somebody started opening cans of Guinness in the studio in order to keep their end of a losing bet.

If England keep winning we are in for one heck of a day out in Dublin. Wins over Italy and Scotland would give the Eddie Jones crew eighteen on the bounce, tying New Zealand’s record for a tier one nation. So at Lansdowne Road the men in white would be going for both a Grand Slam and that test wins streak.

In their way? Ireland, hopefully with wins over France and Wales putting pep in their step as they try to destroy dreams of a new English rugby order. And memories of Chicago – fond ones – of the last time a team stepped onto a pitch with 18 under the belt. We know what happened next.

So here’s the listening bit. Use the embedded player below, and you can subscribe using RSS (for your podcatcher of choice) or iTunes links.

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