2026 Six Nations: England vs. Ireland Preview
Steve Borthwick’s England and Andy Farrell’s Ireland go toe to toe in a high profile contest at Twickenham on Saturday afternoon in their latest encounter in the Six Nations.
The third round of matches in the 2026 edition of the highly prestigious Six Nations features some high-profile matches, one of which is the game between Steve Borthwick’s England and Andy Farrell’s Ireland. The two rivals will be going head to head at the Allianz Stadium, Twickenham, in the heart of London, on Saturday, 21st February 2026 at 14:10 in the afternoon.
It is a much-anticipated contest that will bring with it an incredible atmosphere for what promises to be an incredible occasion in the English Capital.
England will be looking to get back to winning ways following defeat against Scotland in the Calcutta Cup at Murrayfield last time out, and they now face an Ireland team that recovered from an opening weekend defeat to France by beating Italy 20 – 13 at the Aviva Stadium last week.
Additionally, for either side if they were to emerge victorious from this game, it would be a statement triumph that could provide both England and Ireland with some momentum going into the final two weeks of the 2026 Six Nations. Both nations will be looking to lift the title in March.
England have won the Six Nations seven times, with their last triumph in this competition coming back in the 2020 iteration. Meanwhile, Ireland are currently one behind their rivals on 6 titles so far, as of the time of writing, with them most recently winning it back in March 2024.
Team News
Both Head Coaches have announced their side’s starting line-ups for this high-profile contest at Twickenham as England and Ireland meet once more in the Six Nations. We will start with England’s team news, with Maro Itoje set to make his landmark 100th appearance for England on Saturday afternoon.
England XV: Freddie Steward, Tommy Freeman, Ollie Lawrence, Fraser Dingwall, Henry Arundell, George Ford (Vice Captain), Alex Mitchell, Ellis Genge (Vice Captain), Luke Cowan-Dickie, Joe Heyes, Maro Itoje (Captain), Ollie Chessum, Tom Curry, Ben Earl, and Henry Pollock.
England Replacements: Jamie George (Vice Captain), Bevan Rodd, Trevor Davison, Alex Coles, Guy Pepper, Sam Underhill, Jack van Poortvliet, and Marcus Smith.
Ireland XV: Jamie Osborne, Robert Baloucoune, Garry Ringrose, Stuart McCloskey, James Lowe, Jack Crowley, Jamison Gibson-Park, Jeremy Loughman, Dan Sheehan, Tadhg Furlong, Joe McCarthy, James Ryan, Tadhg Beirne, Josh van der Flier, and Caelan Doris.
Ireland Replacements: Ronan Kelleher, Tom O’Toole, Finlay Bealham, Nick Timoney, Jack Conan, Craig Casey, Ciaran Frawley, and Tommy O’Brien.
England and Ireland have faced each other in a wide variety of competitions over the years, and we are not going to take a look back at their most recent encounters in the Six Nations, specifically.
Most recent Six Nations games between England and Ireland
We will look at the most recent encounters in the Six Nations, finishing with the most recent contest in this tournament back in 2025.
·        Ireland 29 – 16 England (March 2023).
·        England 23 – 22 Ireland (March 2024).
·        Ireland 27 – 22 England (February 2025).
For England fans, the 23 – 22 success in the 2024 edition of the Guinness Six Nations was a particularly memorable occasion, even more so than normal, given that Ireland were the reigning champions of this competition at that time.
Then back in 2019, England opened that year’s Six Nations Championship campaign in some style by securing a thrilling 32 – 20 bonus point victory against Ireland, who were also reigning champions in this game, at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin.
Ireland secured a memorable victory against England the year before in 2018, beating them 15 – 24 to secure a grand slam and a third Six Nations triumph in five years. There was also that memorable victory for Ireland in 2004, when they came away from Twickenham in London with a 13 – 19 victory in the English Capital.
Head to Head
In 143 Test Matches in international rugby, England have historically been dominant at home with 48 wins at Twickenham/Allianz Stadium, whilst Ireland have 19. Meanwhile, in games in Ireland, Ireland have more victories on 35, whilst rivals England are just behind them on 33. The total score in fixtures between England and Ireland so far, as of the time of writing, is 1,785 – 1,341 in favour of England.
When you look at the head-to-head record between these two sides in all competitions since Rugby became professional back in 1995, England and Ireland have played against each other 35 times. It is England who currently has the slight advantage over their rivals with 19 victories compared with the 16 for Ireland so far.
All eyes will be on the Allianz Stadium, Twickenham in the heart of London, for what is the blockbuster clash in the 2026 Six Nations between rivals England and Ireland, led by their Head Coaches Steve Borthwick and Andy Farrell. Excitement is building amongst fans to see who will come out on top in the end in the English Capital.
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