Nowell focused on Irish threat

By Mark Stevens
18/2/16

Exeter Chiefs star Jack Nowell says England are hoping to use this week and next to concoct the perfect game plan to sink Ireland in this season’s RBS Six Nations.

After successive away wins over Scotland and Italy, Eddie Jones’ side will return to Twickenham a week on Saturday looking to maintain their unblemished record against an Irish side, who drew against Wales first up and then lost to France last time out.

However, as champions of the competition for the past two years, Nowell and his team-mates know the threat Ireland pose to England’s aspirations and are leaving no stone unturned in their quest for success.

“Obviously it’s always a happier camp when you’re winning, but we’re well aware we’ve not won anything yet and that there is still a long way to go,” said the Cornishman. “We know it’s going to be a tough game against tough opposition and already the focus has gone from Italy and it’s switched to Ireland.

“Luckily we’ve got an extra week to prepare for the game, but it will be tough because they are a top side, who have played very well in this competition over the last few years.”
In what has been an encouraging opening to the tenure of Jones, Nowell says mood within the Red Rose camp is buoyant and that the Aussie coach is looking to bring the best out of all his players.

“Before we came into camp we didn’t know what to expect,” added Nowell, who scored England’s second try in their victory over Scotland at Murrayfield.

“The big thing Eddie wants is for the boys to get on well and mould together as quickly as possible. Obviously a few things are different from before, but considering we’ve only been together for three weeks, working on a new attack and a new defence, it’s going pretty well.”

Having yet to leak a try in the competition, Nowell admits he’s been impressed by the work put in by new defence coach Paul Gustard.

“Guzzy’s one of the best defences coaches around,” he continued. “As players it’s great to learn off him every day. You can see already what he has brought to the team and it’s exciting to work under him.”

As well as England’s defence, their attacking prowess has also been in fine fettle, a point underlined during the second half of their game against Italy in Rome.

“It was one of those games we knew would be tough at the start,” said Nowell, who has now scored eight tries in 12 appearances for his country. “Italy are a very physical team and you know it will take a lot to break them down.

“Once we did that, we knew we had to be direct in everything we did and whilst a few didn’t go to hand at first, we stuck to what we knew we had to do. Luckily enough it started to mould together nicely in Italy, but I thought there were glimpses of that against Scotland as well.”

Now as England build-up for the Ireland clash, Nowell knows expectations will continue to rise following such an encouraging start.

And with that the pressure will also be on the current squad to perform on another level again over the coming weeks against Ireland, Wales and France.

“Nobody’s position is safe in the squad,” explained the 22-year-old. “As a player you want to be working as hard as you can with every chance you get. Personally, I know I can’t afford to get comfortable or sit back and relax because there is always someone waiting in the wings that is either coming back from injury or gets called up who will want to take your shirt.

“The big thing for me is not to give the coaches an excuse to drop you or anything like that. You always want to stay ahead of anyone else, so that’s why I try and work on little things in my game all the time.”