Matt Dawson wary of Irish threat to England's grand slam

England travel to Dublin on Saturday looking to complete their first Six Nations grand slam since 2003. A member of the side that memorably beat Ireland to win that title was scrum-half Matt Dawson, who is careful not to talk up England's chances before this year's encounter. "My heart of course says England will win because I'm an Englishman, but it's going to be a heck of a game," said Dawson. A quality Irish side in front of a passionate home crowd have the potential to destroy England's hopes as they did when the two sides met in similar circumstances in 2001. In a feverish atmosphere Ireland won a bruising encounter 20-14 to deny England the grand slam, and Dawson is aware that Ireland are capable of doing the same again: "Ireland have got a bunch of very talented players but we haven't seen the best of them, and that can be very dangerous. I think England realise that they've got to be right on their game to compete." England began this campaign in a very impressive manner with wins away to Wales, home to France and an eight try thrashing of Italy which began talk that England could again be considered a truly world class side. They stumbled somewhat in their previous game against Scotland at Twickenham however, as the Scots produced a physical performance which meant England had to fight to win a game they were expected to stroll through. Dawson therefore believes that the key to Saturday's game will be the Irish performance: "A lot depends on the way Ireland play. I think England have been very consistent, very strong in the set piece, clinical at times, but a lot has depended on what the opposition has done. When the opposition has turned up its always been quite close." England have certainly improved from this time a year ago, when they were heading into their final match with France having only beaten Wales and Italy in what had been a disappointing tournament for Martin Johnson's side, but a win against Australia at Twickenham in the autumn and a strong Six Nations so far has demonstrated that this new generation of England players may be finally coming of age under Johnson. "The team now has just started to understand the strength of Martin Johnson and his ability to create a group of individuals who can lead themselves, and he was very much inspirational in that way when I was playing with him," said Dawson. "There were obviously leaders in our team, but he oversaw all of that, and when he needed to step in he was always there to make the right call. It's taken its time but now those players are understanding that. "Initially I don't think they could really see where all this leadership was that they witnessed when they were young lads growing up. And now they can understand that he's facilitated all those decisions they're making on the field." These decisions include declining to kick the ball away so much, preferring instead to play a running style harnessing the talents of Mark Cueto, Ben Foden and the tournament's leading try scorer Chris Ashton. Dawson believes that one of Johnson's main strengths is that he knows "how to play in certain styles, running rugby as well and the hard-nosed Leicester way," a quality that was needed in last weekend's tough victory. Johnson led Dawson in the team which convincingly beat Ireland in 2003, a win that was followed up with England's maiden World Cup victory in Australia, and there will inevitably be raised expectations about this side at the World Cup in New Zealand at the end of the year if they were to win on Saturday. Dawson has little time for speculation like this however. "You can't follow trends like that in sport as much as we all like to get romantic about the whole thing," he said. "England will not have any thoughts about anything other than this weekend." While the England team might be focussed on the game on Saturday their fans can't help but see some parallels with eight years ago. Dawson argues that "regardless of the result at the weekend England will still be in good fettle when it comes to the World Cup in New Zealand" but he must acknowledge that a win will be interpreted as another step along the path to something even greater for this young team. • Matt Dawson will be appearing on the Question of Sport tour, is a 22-date UK series from 22 October-20 November. Tickets are priced £37.50 and available from aquestionofsporttour.co.uk (all tickets subject to booking fee)