Six Nations: England fired warning by Ireland captain ahead of France clash
IRELAND captain Rory Best has warned England that the defending champions are ready to take advantage of any slip-up.
England stunned Ireland in Dublin in their opening Six Nations match last weekend.
Best led his side to the Grand Slam last time out but his hopes of repeating the feat were dashed in the first rubber.
The Irish made amends with a 22-12 win against Scotland yesterday to get their title defence off the mark.
England take on France at Twickenham this afternoon knowing victory will take them above Wales to the top of the table.
But Best is eagerly waiting in the wings for the Three Lions to drop points.
"If you lose two games you're dead and buried," Best said.
"We'll have to rely on other people which isn't where you want to be but if we hadn't won this game, we were definitely out of it.
"It was important to get the result.
"Obviously we wanted to improve in certain areas, physically, and we wanted to play a lot more like ourselves."
Best also reflected on the mistakes his side made against England.
But he is glad Ireland have put the misery behind them.
"Mentally and emotionally we took a big step forward this week," added Best.
"Last week was a very strange week.
"We felt we'd done alright in some areas, and were pretty poor in others with some silly mistakes.
"But we don't strive for alright, we want to be the best we can be and last week wasn't that."