England team manager Martin Johnson caused a fuss and sealed a slam in Dublin eight years ago. Now he's back for more of the same, so writes The Guardian's Rob Kitson.
"Eight years is virtually a lifetime in rugby. When England won their last grand slam, on 30 March 2003, no one had heard of The X Factor, David Cameron, Lady Gaga or Chris Ashton. Martin Johnson was still lacing up his boots each week and Clive Woodward was not yet a knight of the realm. The curiosity is not that England are chasing another grand slam in Dublin, but that it has taken so long for them to get back to where they once belonged.
"Does Six Nations nirvana await at the Aviva Stadium, the new venue on the site of evocative old Lansdowne Road? It is no sure thing. Ireland have been unlucky in this championship, victims of one glaring missed tackle and a refereeing howler. This could easily be 2001 all over again, when another unbeaten England team led by a stand-in captain, Matt Dawson, were turned over. The memory of Andy Robinson, then England's forwards coach, walking out into the carpark, pressing two fingers against his temple and pulling an imaginary trigger remains fresh."
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