England staff trying to relieve pressure after Murrayfield mauling
England have taken steps to relieve the pressure on their under-performing stars, with Steve Borthwick admitting his players are feeling the weight of the jersey.
An Ireland side pursuing consecutive Grand Slam titles - a feat never achieved in the Six Nations era - are overwhelming favourites to prevail when the rivals clash at Twickenham tomorrow.
England, meanwhile, have been forced to regroup after a nine-point mauling by Scotland in round three that has left them facing another deflating Championship.
Borthwick has freshened up his side after the Edinburgh collapse, giving starts to wing Immanuel Feyiwaboso, scrum-half Alex Mitchell and lock George Martin, while Marcus Smith and Alex Dombrandt are new faces on the bench.
England's head coach stressed the importance of continuity in selection, but also revealed that his biggest task since Duhan van der Merwe ran riot at Murrayfield has been psychological.
"We know that against Scotland there were errors," said Borthwick, in reference to the 22 turnovers and 25 handling errors conceded by his side. "It's probably the first time in a while I'd seen the weight of the shirt feels heavy on the players. We've worked around that and to develop that.
"We try to make an environment where the players enjoy it, where we know mistakes are going to be made, but still continue to do the right things.
"I back the players. Yes we made errors. We're disappointed in the performance and we're disappointed in the result. I've made some of changes to the team but I believe in these players. I sense a determination in them to put in a performance this weekend and there has been ever since the end of that Scotland game."
England have managed
only two wins in each of their last three Six Nations and with Ireland next up - Borthwick described them as the best team in the world - followed by France in Lyon, they could endure the same outcome in 2024.
Captain Jamie George admitted they "tightened up" against Scotland but has told his players not to retreat into their shells.
"The main focus for us the last couple of weeks in particular has been around making sure that we can be ourselves, making sure that it is still okay to make mistakes but that we're going to learn very quickly from those," George said.
Ireland have recalled "worldclass" Hugo Keenan but will be without lock James Ryan for the remainder of the Six Nations.
Fit-again full-back Keenan replaces Ciaran Frawley in the only change to Andy Farrell's starting XV after overcoming the knee issue which caused him to miss the 31-7 round-three win over Wales.
Lock Ryan, who has been reduced to a peripheral role during the championship, suffered a "freak" bicep injury in training on Wednesday and will sit out the trip to Twickenham, in addition to next week's finale against Scotland.
Farrell expects a tough game. "I don't get involved with the criticism at all," he said of England. "I look at the individuals the way they're playing, the coaching staff they’ve got, the plan that they'vegot,afantasticside.it's goingtobeonehellofabattle.”