As well as back-to-back Grand Slams and a tier one world record of 19 successive wins, a £43,000 per man clean sweep bonus is on the line for England’s players.
But England are also driven by a craving to avoid the empty feeling of six years ago when they received the championship trophy in the Irish capital after having the Grand Slam ripped away from them by Ireland in a 24-8 defeat.
“In 2011 we lost the final game and that’s a dirty feeling to have. It was a wasted opportunity,” said the England captain.
“Looking back now and knowing how hard we train and prepare now, I didn’t do what I needed to be right for that game and people like James Haskell would say the same thing. All we can do is learn from those setbacks and put us in good stead for games like this.
“It’s about guys relishing the moment that we have now and seizing the opportunity.
“You don’t get these opportunities very often in life, especially in a rugby life. How long is a rugby career? Ten or 12 years if we’re lucky, and we don’t have many opportunities so we need to make the most of them.”
Hartley is one of six survivors in the England match-day squad from that failed mission and knows full well the kick Ireland would derive from a repeat. But he believes this England machine is equipped to deliver successive Grand Slams for the first time since Will Carling’s 1992 team.
“My message to the team this week is that our motivation has to be greater – to kick on and to win the Grand Slam. That motivation, to me, is greater than upsetting another team’s party,” said Hartley.
“Will Carling has been texting me today, telling me how great he was, and wishing us good luck. We couldn’t be any tactically clearer and the combinations and the relationships couldn’t be any better. What we need to do now is emotionally get it right for this game.”
Ireland captain Rory Best warned England yesterday his injury-hit side have it within themselves to finish a disappointing campaign on a high.
“We want to show what we’re worth. Especially at home for us, it’s a big deal for us to put in a performance,” said Best.
“Ultimately we want to finish with a massive result. I don’t think that their want is any more than ours.”
James Haskell believes the implementation of Jones’ long-term plans for England supersedes the excitement of possibly eclipsing New Zealand’s record of 18 consecutive Test wins at the Aviva Stadium.
“I want to tell you that it [history] does have relevance but I’d just be lying to you,” he said. “It does just in terms of headlines, great news reports and excitement for fans but when you’re in it the most important thing is getting the result and getting the performance that you want and playing the best you can you play.
“Yes, you have an awareness of these things and you always want to make sure you do the best you can do and if the best you can do is winning titles and winning records then that’s important but the most important thing for all of us as a team is getting that performance out in the weekend and making sure that you leave the shirt in a better place than you found it.
“We will only celebrate if the job gets done as we want it to go ahead.”
