Ireland back-row Jamie Heaslip believes England can stop France's bid for a Grand Slam and so help give his side an outside shot at a successful Six Nations title defence.
Ireland beat Wales 27-12 at Croke Park on Saturday to stay second in the table heading into this coming weekend's final round of matches.
But France, the only unbeaten side left in this season's tournament, overwhelmed Italy 46-20 with a six-try salvo at the Stade de France on Sunday.
And while a fifth Triple Crown (the prize one of the 'Home Nations' of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales gets for defeating all the others in a single Six Nations campaign) in seven years will be Ireland's if they beat Scotland at Croke Park on Saturday, No 8 Heaslip hasn't given up on the title.
"We're still playing for the championship next Saturday - big time. The Triple Crown would be great as well, " said the Leinster back-row.
The French are 50 points better off than Ireland in terms of points difference (plus 64 to plus 14).
That means Ireland will need to beat Scotland by a huge margin in Dublin on March 20 to still be in the title hunt.
If they don't, France - who wrap up the Six Nations several hours later on 'Super Saturday' against England in Paris - will kick-off knowing the title is already theirs.
England's display in a dour 15-15 draw away to Scotland on Saturday suggests Martin Johnson's men have a mountain to climb in a short space of time if they are to stop a French clean-sweep.
Nevertheless Heaslip, a member of the Ireland side beaten 33-10 by France in Paris last month, said: "We're going out to win and hopefully there's some silverware at the end of it because you never know what you're going to get with France.
"If England turn up they can the win because France are a very beatable side," he added.
"They're good and they'll punish you if you let them, but if you match them physically and shut down some of their strike runners you can cause them many problems," Heaslip explained.
Ireland responded to their bad day against 'Les Bleus' by beating England 20-16 at Twickenham before following up with a convincing victory over Wales which owed as much to committed defence as it did to their three tries.
Wales made 187 passes against Ireland yet managed just one line break as they failed to score a try.
Ireland captain Brian O'Driscoll, who won his 100th cap for his country, said: "All performances are based first and foremost on your defence and you will find that, in certain circumstances, it is the catalyst for tries.
"It's definitely something we have targeted, more so after the French game, because we conceded a few tries in that game," the centre added.
"People individually and collectively went away (after the France match) and looked at the performances, including myself, and wanted to put that right.
"I felt that even when we were broken (against Wales), our ability to scramble and our work ethic really stood by us.
"That is one of the most pleasing things because we try and be a very hard-working team."
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