Jonny Sexton's workload has been managed carefully by Ireland following the Lions tour to New Zealand.

When analysing why Ireland go into this weekend's game at Twickenham on the verge of a grand slam and England do so looking to avoid a third successive defeat, it is impossible to ignore that Joe Schmidt's side look far fresher than their counterparts.

One example of that contrast is the two playmakers, Jonathan Sexton and Owen Farrell. Since the Lions tour last summer, Sexton has played just 435 minutes for Leinster. In the same time, Farrell has amassed a staggering 1,084 minutes of action for Saracens.

Clearly, Ireland are leveraging the advantages of their four-team, centrally-contracted professional set-up. But they also have a weapon, one that tells them which individuals to rest and when. Kitman Labs is proving increasingly vital to how the Irish Rugby Football Union is managing its human resources, ensuring players peak at vital moments.

GETTY IMAGES The work of the data analytics company led to Owen Farrell, left, being rested for the game against NZ Maori on the Lions tour.

Just the faintest trace of mischief laces Kevin McLaughlin's explanation of how data analytics, and specifically his company, have guided what could be a very special season for Irish rugby. "I think England might be casting one eye across the sea at what Ireland are doing," suggests the former back-rower. "And maybe they'll be leaning more towards a central model over the next couple of years." There is a hint of a grin. "Politics notwithstanding."

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McLaughlin, an eight-cap international, retired from playing after a concussion in Leinster's first domestic match of the 2015-16 season. By the following February, he had been appointed vice-president of operations at Kitman. He linked up with chief executive and founder Stephen Smith, previously Leinster's head of rehabilitation.

From Leinster taking them on in 2012, Kitman has acquired clients from the NBA, the Premier League and the Australian Football League. Their athlete optimisation system aggregates data from various sources, GPS systems or daily body-imaging scans to monitor flexibility, for example, and compares it against injury trends. Teams are notified when players approach danger zones. To give some idea of the detail involved, Smith revealed at Kitman's recent European performance summit in London that the team that gathers the least amount of data collects 33 individual metrics per athlete - objective measures such as accelerations, collisions, running distances and body weight, as well as subjective ones like 'wellness' and muscle soreness.

South African franchise the Sharks recorded a 30 per cent drop in injuries over their first campaign with Kitman.

Warren Gatland's British and Irish Lions used them in New Zealand. Remember when Farrell was rested for the tour match against the Maori All Blacks?

Ex-Lions and Ireland talisman Jamie Heaslip, one of Kitman's angel investors, also attended the European summit. One day after his own injury-enforced retirement was announced, he reminisced about his quest for 'one-percenters', sleeping in an oxygen tent and wearing an altitude mask for cardio sessions.

McLaughlin remembers starting out in professional rugby as an 18-year-old with a history of back and knee problems in school. Leinster treated him like "a blank canvas" and his body struggled badly. Similar experiences are unlikely in the future.

Kitman's contract with the IRFU covers provincial senior and academy groups, the women's national side, Ireland age-group squads and Joe Schmidt's elite. This co-ordination takes out the club-versus-country tension that the England team need to manage.

"They now have kids as young as 15 or 16 on the system," McLaughlin adds. "By the time a talented young player wins their first international cap, say James Ryan at the age of 21, they have five years' worth of medical data on them and a full data passport.

"Irish provinces pride themselves on driving a strong culture. Getting an edge with sports science has been a big part of that and they've always been ahead of the curve. Leinster was the very first team in Europe to use GPS, for instance.

"It's all helped what is a relatively small rugby nation to be in the top two in the world."