Six Nations 2014: England's Courtney Lawes Ready for Ireland "Brawl"

England second row Courtney Lawes is preparing for a physical battle when Ireland travel to Twickenham in a contest which will shape the destination of the 2014 Six Nations championship.

Victory over Scotland has reignited England's campaign following the opening weekend loss to France and sends Stuart Lancaster's side on a collision course with the Irish in a fortnight after Joe Schmidt's side recorded a second successive win over Wales.

Though Lawes has first hand experience of injury in the line of duty, the Northampton lock is prepared to put his body on the line against Ireland, a squad that boasts a wealth of experience and two former British and Irish Lions captains in Paul O'Connell and Brian O'Driscoll.

"They're going well at the minute and they beat Wales so it's going to be a brawl," said Lawes. "I expect they're going to target the ruck area and probably try and maul us up front and make it a big physical battle.

"We've come a long way as a team. We don't have as many caps as them obviously but our enthusiasm and willingness to learn is going to pay dividends."

"They owe us one [after the 12-6 defeat in Dublin last year] so they're going to come flying I would imagine. We know we need to be 100% prepared knowing that we're going in for a battle and make sure that we're just as motivated and ready to dog it out as they are."

England required a performance in victory over Scotland in stark contrast to that which accompanied the last-gasp shock by France a week previous, with the Edinburgh conditions not allowing for a free-flowing contest.

But having shown themselves adept in both scenarios Lawes feels England are tailor-made for the proposition of facing Ireland.

"We probably played a bit better last week but you've got to get the win at the end of the day but we lost last week so we knew that nothing less than a win would do.

"It was pretty desperate from us that first and foremost we got that win and that we produced a performance to come with it especially with the pitch and the conditions ad with us not being quite there.

"We squeezed them and didn't give them any chance to get back into the game without any pressure on us which is perfect.

"There are moments where we can capitalise and put more points on them. One more try and I think we would have run away with it. It didn't happen and we'll learn from it."

Lawes' references to the sacrifices made in defence are admirable given his injury history, which has included missed Six Nations and autumn campaigns due to chronic groin, knee, shoulder, shin, and elbow injuries.

The 24 year old required all his powers of bravery to help keep Scotland from registering a single point at Murrayfield making tackles "like our lives depend on it" against Scott Johnson's team.

"This season I've started well," he added. "I'm getting my confidence back and there are few technical things as well and that's the only a thing you can do when you're fit."