Ferris believes England will be encouraged by Irish issues ahead of Six Nations

The Irish team ended their Autumn Nations Series last weekend with a mixed bag of successful and less successful aspects of the game.

Ireland won three games out of four, but there were a number of set-piece and handling errors in their games.

Ireland lost five of their 24 lineouts in their win against Australia, with similar issues evident in their opening game defeat to the All Blacks.

Ferris, speaking on RTÉ 2fm’s Game On this week, believes that Steve Borthwick's England will be encouraged by Ireland's malaise and feel they can take advantage of it when they meet in Dublin on February 1st.

"I think England will be relishing the opportunity of coming to Dublin in the first weekend and springing a big upset," the former Ulster and Ireland back row said.

"Over the last few weeks, what has been really evident is that teams are now starting to figure out our attack and identify the options a little bit quicker.

"They are able to move off the dummy runners to get into outside channels, make the tackles, and stifle Ireland’s really good attack that has cut teams to shreds over the last couple of seasons."

Ferris also believes that teams figuring Ireland out has caused the issues seen in recent games. He believes that Borthwick will be under huge pressure if they don't capitalise on potential Irish errors next spring.

output:Australia's lock Jeremy Williams (L) competes with Ireland's lock. Joe McCarthy (R) (Photo by Ben STANSALL / AFP)

"What comes with that is huge frustration, little knock-ons, and unforced errors, which a couple of teams were able to capitalise on during the Autumn Nations Series.

"Steve Borthwick is under a huge amount of pressure, and if they came to Dublin and got beaten out the gate, I’m sure that wouldn’t go well for the rest of their Six Nations campaign."

Ireland’s 2025 Six Nations fixtures are as follows: They face England at the Aviva Stadium, Dublin, on Saturday, February 1st, with a 4:45 pm kick-off.

They then take on Scotland at the Scottish Gas Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh, on Sunday, February 9th, at 3:00 pm. After this, they play Wales at the Principality Stadium, Cardiff, on Saturday, February 22nd, at 2:15 pm, before hosting France at the Aviva Stadium, Dublin, on Saturday, March 8th, at 2:15 pm.

They finish the tournament against Italy at Stadio Olimpico, Rome, on Saturday, March 15th, with a 2:15 pm kick-off.