England ‘clear’ on how to attack Ireland – Daly
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Wing Elliot Daly says England’s plan to attack Ireland in the Six Nations is the “clearest” it has been in years.
England’s attack has struggled in their opening three games but Daly says they want to entertain against Ireland and create a buzz around Twickenham.
Steve Borthwick’s side return to their London base to host the defending champions after defeat in Scotland ended their winning start.
“We’re very clear on how we want to attack,” Daly, 31, told BBC Sport.
“I think it’s the clearest we have been in a few years.
“We are going into these last two games against Ireland and France to get exactly what we want out of them, which is some ball in hand and putting teams on the back foot by scoring some tries.”
England have scored two tries in each game so far, with only an under-performing France and bottom-of-the-table Italy having managed fewer in this year’s tournament.
Victories over the Azzurri in Rome and Wales at Twickenham were followed by defeat at Murrayfield, but Daly says the hosts want to retain more possession and produce a “proper England performance” against Ireland on 9 March.
“We gave away 21 turnovers against Scotland, which in international rugby doesn’t win many games,” Daly added. “It’s something we will look at this week and the weeks coming and hopefully we can put that right against Ireland.
“The buzz around at Twickenham was brilliant in the last game against Wales so I think we’re looking forward to that.
“It was louder than I have seen it in three or four years, so hopefully we can do that and hopefully those guys get behind us again.
“We’re looking forward to putting on a show for the fans at home with a proper England performance of never giving up and putting everything on the pitch.
“As soon as you do that, the crowd gets behind you.”
Ireland are chasing a second consecutive Grand Slam after opening wins over France, Italy and Wales, but Daly says England’s new blitz defence can help to tip the balance in their favour.
“Our defence is great and it puts teams under pressure,” the Saracens wing added.
“I think that was the most errors Scotland have made in a game for a long time, so it’s definitely working. Everyone is buying into it and we are going for it full throttle.
“We need to be more connected but I think we defended pretty well in phase play. We made one error off a scrum, but apart from that I think the actual defence throughout the whole game was pretty good.
“We want to keep being connected with each other so we can really get off the line.
“Ireland are a quality team. When you get to international level everything is about fine margins and you have to be on it to get a result.
“Whether it’s in the kicking game or whether it’s in attack or defence. They’re really good at the breakdown as well, so we’re going to have to be good there.”
‘We know a cohesive attack takes time’
Attack coach Richard Wigglesworth says England were a “little bit safe and tense” in Edinburgh and will look to express themselves back on home soil.
“We were too far away from the gainline against Scotland and it is something we have been through and we will sort,” Wigglesworth told BBC Sport.
“The turnover count was also really high and we want to reduce that against Ireland. You don’t reduce turnovers by going into your shell and not trying things. You reduce the turnovers by doing things the way we want to do them.
“Challenging the defence is the way we are aiming to go and we didn’t do that at the weekend. We were a little bit safe and tense and we produced errors on the back of it.
“Obviously you want to put everything together, you want a defence that pressurises the attack, you want a kicking game that gets you great field position and puts the opposition on the back foot, allied to a set-piece that is stronger.
“We don’t want one thing taking priority over another.”
Wigglesworth, however, has called for patience from the Twickenham faithful while England continue to fine-tune their attack.
“We know that a cohesive attack takes time and we want that progress to always be upwards. We know there will be bumps in the road but it is in the subtleties where we have to be effective.
“We want our players to be able to put their best talent on the field and that looks different for everyone, so let’s get an England way of playing that gets the best out of the players we’ve got.”
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