Ireland and England will be playing for very different things in Cork on Saturday.

For Ireland, it is about damage control.

England won the fixture 69-0 last year and have only risen as Ireland have slumped in the time since.

The table-topping Red Roses – on a record streak of 22 Six Nations wins and seeking a fifth successive title – won each of their opening three games by more than 50 points.

Ireland – fifth in the table – have lost their opening three games of the Six Nations for the first time since 2007 and, in a 53-5 defeat by France, suffered their heaviest home loss in the Five or Six Nations since 1999.

Things are unlikely to get any better, with England head coach Simon Middleton promising his side will play “flat out” on Saturday.

Ireland captain Nichola Fryday concedes “it’s an extremely tough tournament” for her team.

“We have to recognise that we’re all feeling the same emotions, disappointments and frustrations,” Fryday told BBC Sport.

“It’s about sticking together, that’s the main thing for us.”

Ireland ‘at the start of a journey’

Ireland were hoping for a win against Italy last weekend at least, but were well beaten 24-7 in the end.

Before France and England began to invest in their women’s sides – and surge ahead as a result – Ireland claimed the 2015 Six Nations title.

France or England have won every subsequent edition of the tournament and Saturday’s scoreline may be a sorry marker of how far Ireland have fallen in the 10 years since they won a Grand Slam in 2013.

They have scored two tries in the tournament so far – one of which was a penalty try – and are likely to concede many more against an England attack averaging more than 10 tries per game.

England have been professional since 2019, while Ireland were only offered contracts – which not all players accepted – at the end of 2022.

On top of the financial differences, Ireland’s Six Nations team has been missing several stars who are away on sevens duty and last week the union disputed allegations of sexism at the organisation.

“We know that we’re at the start of our journey,” Fryday added.

“It’s about going out and fighting for these last two matches, not letting any outside noise drag us down.

“As much as we’ve had critique, we’ve had an outpouring of support as well. All we ask for is that people give us time.

“I have no doubt that we will start to close the gap in the next year or two. We’re in a growing phase and I just thank those supporters that are backing us.”

‘We don’t want to lose our shirts’ – Packer

From an Irish point of view, Middleton has named a depressingly strong England side.

Scrum-half Natasha Hunt returns to increase the Red Roses’ speed of play even more and Claudia MacDonald is back on the wing.

Props Hannah Botterman and Maud Muir are reintroduced to the starting line-up, while World Cup star Helena Rowland is poised to return from injury off the bench.

For the hosts, back row Dorothy Wall is ruled out through injury and replaced by Brittany Hogan, with centre Vicky Irwin and scrum-half Molly Scuffil-McCabe coming into the Irish backline.

England’s starting line-up has a total of 485 caps compared to Ireland’s 185. Hunt’s individual cap count of 60 is one fewer than the entire Irish backline.

While there is little doubt of victory for them, England’s players will be motivated by the high competition for places in the squad to play France in front of an expected record Twickenham crowd of more than 50,000.

“We have to turn up and make sure we perform because there are other players wanting our shirts,” said captain Marlie Packer.

“We don’t want to lose our shirt going into what will be the biggest game against France next week.”

With an expected tight encounter against France to prepare for, another big England win will not serve either team this weekend.

When asked if his side had been tested in the tournament so far, Middleton, who is stepping down as England head coach at the end of the tournament, responded that they “were under pressure for 25 minutes” against Wales.

All Ireland can do is try their best to increase that tally.

Line-ups

Ireland: L Delany; A Doyle, A Dalton, V Irwin, N Behan; D O’Brien, M Scuffil-McCabe; L Djougang, N Jones, C Haney; N Fryday (capt), S Monaghan; B Hogan, G Moore, D Nic a Bhaird.

Replacements: C Nielson, S McGrath, K Buggy, H O’Connor, J Brown, N Cronin, A McGann, M Deely.

England: Kildunne; Dow, Tuima, Heard, MacDonald; Aitchison, Hunt; Botterman, Powell, Muir, Aldcroft, Beckett, Kabeya, M Packer (capt), Matthews.

Replacements: Davies, Carson, Bern, Burns, Talling, L Packer, Reed, Rowland.