This Saturday the final three games of the 2015 Six Nations will be played in a rugby matinee of epic proportions.

If Ireland, England and Wales all win their games then the deciding factor to crown the Six Nations winner will be points difference (ie, which team has scored the most points as against those conceded).

To this end, Ireland need to not only best Scotland but also put up as high a score as possible so that our points difference is sufficiently competitive to give us a good opportunity to win the championship.

In short, Ireland should aim to control our own destiny by winning well.

There is a subtle similarity to a question that comes up during most recruitment processes as follows:

“How many other people are being interviewed?”

My response is always the same. It doesn’t matter if you are the only person going forward for an interview or if there are 10 others, you still want to score as high as you possibly can. If you prepare to the best of your ability, you take control of your destiny and give yourself the best possible opportunity to be the preferred applicant.

Incidentally, this is not the only reason for preparing to the best of your capabilities. When you reach the business end of the process and are negotiating your salary package, the better you have performed throughout the process the more currency you are likely to have to negotiate with and the more flexible the employer has the potential to be.

With a bit of luck Ireland will leave themselves with enough advantage to win the championship for the second time in two years.

Good luck also to the U20’s and Women’s teams who are competing over the weekend.