England travel to Dublin on Saturday as favourites for their first Grand Slam in six years but with the memory of Six Nations shortcomings at Murrayfield and Wembley very much at the forefront of their minds.

Alas, this Lansdowne Road clash does will not be the Championship decider that many had hoped for and anticipated but with a Grand Slam in the offing and the Triple Crown we are still set for a pulsating contest.

For England, Jason Robinson has been given the chance to help England in their bid for glory, getting the nod on the wing for his first start in an England shirt. Woodward said: "The Lions was brilliant for Jason because its really fast-tracked him. He deserves to be in the starting XV - he is absolutely there on merit."

Robinson comes in for Ben Cohen, who fails to make the 22, while right wing Dan Luger is back after injury, relegating Austin Healey, who had been tipped for a starting role, to the replacements' bench.

Injured captain Martin Johnson is replaced by Wasps lock Simon Shaw, Martin Corry comes into the back row for Lawrence Dallaglio. Corry will play at blindside flanker with Richard Hill moving to number eight, a position he has previously filled during Woodward's reign.

The other change is the inclusion of Danny Grewcock in place of Bath team-mate Steve Borthwick, who is on the bench. Prop Phil Vickery has been ruled out with a knee problem.

Woodward is really looking forward to the mouth-watering clash and said: "We have to make sure we hit the ground running on Saturday. I expect Ireland to improve from the Wales game last weekend. It is going to be very tough, but that is the challenge and the pressure that we all want. Ireland will play better than they did against Wales - they will step up another gear, and we will need to up our level."

Woodward's faith in fullback Iain Balshaw has recived a great deal of attention this week after many had expected the Bath man's lack of form and confidence since going on tour with the Lions to cost him his place in the starting line-up. But the England manager has chosen to trust Balshaw to produce the same blistering display that tore all opposition apart earlier in the year.

"The Lions were nothing to do with me," Woodward said. "With England, Balshaw has been fantastic and I expect him to be so again. I did think long and hard about Perry and Robinson there but the balance seems right the way we have it."

Of his troubles Balshaw commented, "That's behind me, I've gone back to basics and concentrated on getting the fundamentals right."

Scrum-half Matt Dawson takes the captaincy in Johnson's absence and will be keen to erase the memories of a troubled summer with the Lions and last season's Six Nations failure against Scotland by securing England's first Grand Slam since 1995.

Ireland will field the same side that stuffed Wales in Cardiff last Saturday in their bid to stop the England juggernaut and talimanic skipper Keith Wood will become Ireland's most capped hooker, surpassing Ken Kennedy's 45 appearances in the green shirt.

In this week's build-up Wood was quick to praise his opposite skipper Martin Johnson, who will miss the game through injury, but warned England would still pose a formidable threat.

"Johnno`s the best captain I`ve played under. He`s a fantastic player and we have the utmost respect for him. But England are one of the few teams in the world that can afford to lose players of the calibre of Johnson as well as (Lawrence) Dallaglio and (Phil) Vickery because they have a particularly good structure. The way they`ve got their act together over the last 24 months especially means they have a serious number of players in contention for places.

"I think we`ve made a lot of progress in the last 18 months but England are a fantastic team and we really have to play at our absolute best and for them hopefully to have an off-day," said Wood.

His words were echoed by coach Warren Gatland. From leading a team tipped to rival England for the Championship earlier in the year, to being close to the axe after the disappointment in Murrayfield, Gatland now finds himself with the in charge of a resurgent team perhaps capable of spoiling England's party. He commented, "We made a mess of things against Scotland, we put things right last Saturday against Wales and now we've an opportunity to go one further."

A packed house in Dublin will not be disappointed by what I suspect will be an entertaining game to say the least. A confident Ireland will not find England offering as many gifts as Wales did last weekend, but recent match practice should count in their favour. Whether the weight of expectation will hinder England's usual expansive game is yet to be seen, and a lot may depend on the whether conditions.

Expect a bruising opening with England looking to utilise the running skills of messrs Robinson, Balshaw and Luger when they have the ball, and a resurgent Ireland side will have to show they can live at England's pace in the opening quarter if they hold out any hope of a notable scalp.