Six Nations: Caelan Doris expecting ‘ultimate test’ as England come to Aviva Stadium

England’s only victories in the eight games since that dramatic win last year have come against Japan and they struggled to see out games during the autumn.

They had been similarly lacking rhythm when the sides met 11 months ago, but Doris said Ireland had a sense that there was a “big performance brewing”.

“It’s always the ultimate test coming up against these guys. There’s a rich history and a massive rivalry there over the last number of years.

“We’d had a pretty good run [last year], fourth round going in over there and there was a lot of belief. We also respected them massively and knew that there was a big performance brewing from them.

“They obviously hadn’t gone so well at that point but you look back six months prior to that and they’re in a World Cup final [semi-final].

“It’s similar now in that they’ve been on the wrong side of some of their results in the autumn but we have massive respect for them as a team and the quality in their squad.”

Despite winning three of four Tests in the autumn, there was a feeling that Ireland had not hit top form themselves in November.

Handling issues and a slew of penalty concessions were evident in a defeat to New Zealand and victories over Argentina and Australia.

When asked for areas improvement, Doris talked about discipline, the line-out and scrum, as well as the attack and breakdown, before noting he had “mentioned basically the whole game”.

He added: “But there is that feeling that there is growth from individuals, from us as a collective across the board, and that’s the exciting thing for us.”