Eddie Jones begins World Cup year unable to look beyond the seismic Guinness Six Nations clash with Ireland as England attempt to build an important launchpad for Japan 2019.

One of Europe’s most intriguing battles will be staged in Dublin on the opening weekend as the reigning and deposed champions collide in a contest that will shape the title race and beyond.

Win, and the promise shown by England during the autumn will morph into genuine belief they can lift the Webb Ellis Cup. Lose, and they will head for Japan as third favourites for global supremacy – at best.

The implications of defeat at the Aviva Stadium are profound, leaving Jones to narrow his focus.

“We are excited about the opportunity ahead of us. Obviously it is a World Cup year so that is always at the back of your mind,” Jones said.

“We want to be the best team in the world on November 2 at approximately 9.45pm (the date of the World Cup final). That’s the only time that interests us.

The implications of defeat are many for Jones and England.

“But clearly our focus is on beating Ireland. It’s the first game of the Six Nations which is the most prestigious tournament in the northern hemisphere.

“There are twists and twirls in the Six Nations as we have seen before, so all we have to focus on is beating Ireland.”

England are second favourites to win a third European crown under their Australian head coach but understand the demands of a trip to Dublin after seeing their 2017 Grand Slam quest crumble in the Irish capital at the final hurdle.

Jones is convinced his men can reverse a run of two successive defeats to Joe Schmidt’s team, however.

“We want to make sure we put our best foot forward and I think the squad we have is very strong and is very capable of beating Ireland,” Jones said.

“We have a good team, good players and we have a good philosophy about how we want to play.

“The most important thing for us going forward apart from having our best players healthy is that we are developing good clarity about how we want to play. We understand the strengths of our game.

“We understand how we can maximise those strengths and look for more opportunities to be more adaptable.

“We probably went away from that a little bit and that was my fault. I was pushing ahead to doing things we wanted to do to be the best team in the world.

“We have got a clear picture of what we can do, we are not trying to copy anyone else in the world. We are trying to be England and we want to play the way we want to play.

“We know that if we can play like that really well, we can beat any team in the world.”

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