Paul O'Connell: We can't be 'sometimes players' in the next two weeks

Paul O'Connell says he doesn't expect Ireland's squad to be "cramming", as they prepare to test their Grand Slam credentials against Scotland and England in the coming weeks.

With the Six Nations on a break week, the majority of the Ireland squad have gathered for a mini-camp on Thursday and Friday this week, before attention turns to their Round 4 meeting with Scotland at Murrayfield on 12 March (live on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player).

Following wins against Wales, France and Italy, Ireland remain on course for just a fourth Grand Slam in their history, and their first since 2018.

And O'Connell, who helped Ireland to one of those slams in 2009, says the current generation of Irish players are far better prepared than any he's seen before.

"I think it's just important to keep them relaxed," the Ireland forwards coach said, following yesterday's open training session at the Aviva Stadium.

"As I said, there is no fear of guys slacking off, with our lads, your only fear is that they maybe do too much.

"I think we probably did that a little bit. We tried to cram for the exam a little bit back in our day, the week of big games.

"For a lot of these guys, the work is done. It’s about staying relaxed and trusting what they have done already."

Despite three wins from three, and just one defeat in the last 14 Test matches, O'Connell says he's still thriving to get more consistency out of the pack.

"It's been a mixture, I think, a mixture. I think we have been good sometimes. Both as a pack and individually, we have been good sometimes," he added.

"I don’t think for the last two weeks 'sometimes' will be good enough. And that’s the challenge we have as individuals and as units – scrum, lineout, lineout maul, lineout maul attack. We can’t be 'sometimes