Whatever the outcome of the final game of the 2012 Six Nations and whatever the outcome of his bid to become England coach, Stuart Lancaster has got the English fans singing Swing Low, Sweet Chariot with gusto again.
Something of a miracle considering just six months ago the squad were involved in tossing dwarves, having to apologise to hotel workers and jumping off ferries.
England need a big win, a crushing defeat for Wales and an unlikely 38 point swing if they are to retain their title. It may be mission impossible, but few even gave them a chance of being in this position six weeks ago.
To the frustration of the players, whether Lancaster has done enough to secure the job long term is still very much unknown.
The Rugby Football Union will make a straight choice it seems between him and Nick Mallet, but the clamour for Lancaster to get it would reach fever pitch with a victory over the Irish. RFU chief executive Ian Ritchie accepts Lancaster is doing a "fantastic job" but even in the face of intensive quizzing by the media he always stops short of promising him the job full time.
The brilliant victory in Paris meant England won all three of their away games, a feat they had never managed before in the Six Nations. More importantly they regained fourth spot in the world rankings, a position that, if they can hold on to it, would mean they will avoid New Zealand, Australia and South Africa in the group stages of the 2015 World Cup.
Ireland's Six Nations hopes hit the buffers at the first stop with that heart-breaking opening round defeat by Wales.
If it had not been for that last-gasp loss and the missed opportunity in Paris they could be heading to Twickenham chasing a Grand Slam. But the positives have outweighed the negatives, especially considering the legendary and intimidating names of Brian O'Driscoll and latterly Paul O'Connell have been absent from their team-sheet.
The 13 tries they have scored is one more than they managed in the whole of their Grand Slam triumph in 2009 and there has been much to admire from a rapier-like back three and fearsome back row.
They could yet end up second, and beating England in the Six Nations has become a habit for Ireland.
According to their players nothing gives them greater pleasure and there has been much pot stirring this week with Stephen Ferris labelling the English "bad losers" and Rob Kearney saying that "there's something about England fixtures that just spices things up". No greater inspiration then for England to leave the Irish choking on their Guinness on St Patrick's Day.
England : 15-Ben Foden, 14-Chris Ashton, 13-Manu Tuilagi, 12-Brad Barritt, 11-David Strettle, 10-Owen Farrell, 9-Lee Dickson; 1-Alex Corbisiero, 2-Dylan Hartley, 3-Dan Cole, 4-Mouritz Botha, 5-Geoff Parling, 6-Tom Croft, 7-Chris Robshaw (captain), 8-Ben Morgan
Replacements: 16-Lee Mears, 17-Matt Stevens, 18-Tom Palmer, 19-Phil Dowson, 20-Ben Youngs, 21-Charlie Hodgson, 22-Mike Brown.
Ireland : 15-Rob Kearney, 14-Tommy Bowe, 13-Keith Earls, 12-Gordon D'Arcy, 11-Andrew Trimble, 10-Jonathan Sexton, 9-Eoin Reddan; 1-Cian Healy, 2-Rory Best (captain), 3-Mike Ross, 4-Donncha O'Callaghan, 5-Donnacha Ryan, 6-Stephen Ferris, 7-Sean O'Brien, 8-Jamie Heaslip
Replacements: 16-Sean Cronin, 17-Tom Court, 18-Mike McCarthy, 19-Peter O'Mahony, 20-Tomas O'Leary, 21-Ronan O'Gara, 22-Fergus McFadden.
MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee : Nigel Owens (Wal)
Touch judges : Jerome Garces (Fra) & Neil Paterson (Sco)
TV : Jim Yuille (Sco)
