Ireland have plenty of players ready to go to a "dark place" when they face the daunting task of taking on perennial Women's Six Nations champions England, says Declan Danaher.
The Red Roses host Ireland at Twickenham looking for an astounding 28th championship win in a row. Their last defeat came in 2018.
A crowd of over 40,000 is expected at the London venue with Ireland massive underdogs. There’s little talk of victory out of the Ireland camp this week with players and coaches targeting a performance to build on last weekend’s win over Wales.
John Mitchell’s England side have already racked up 24 tries in comprehensive victories over Italy, Wales and Scotland, while conceding just one.
"We know the challenge that awaits us, it’s going to be pretty relentless both sides of the ball," defence coach Danaher told reporters after a team with two changes was announced.
"It’s a race. They want to get set, we want to get set, we’ll see how long we can stay in the fight and we’ll go from there.
"What’s the best way to describe it? There’s a lot of dog, a lot of people willing to put themselves into a dark place to help the team.
"I wasn’t there last year but I can imagine, having worked with the girls now, where they are willing to take themselves when they put that green jersey on.
"We’ve been asking for performances, and we’ve done that in every game we’ve played.
"We’re playing England and we know the threats that come with playing against them.
"When the game is finished, we want to know if we’ve put in another performance that we are proud of, have we grown again as a group, and sometimes that comes with positives but sometimes with learnings.
"I wouldn’t say [our aim is] consolidation, it’s continuing to grow as we go week to week in this competition."
England, ranked one in the world and World Cup finalists in the last two tournaments, have threats all over the field.
Their back-three of Ellie Kildunne, Jess Breach and Abby Dow have contributed 10 of their tries to date, with full-back Kildunne grabbing a brace in each of the three matches.
"Ellie Kildunne’s been brilliant, and we know the threat that’s going to come from her and the others," added Danaher, a former back row with London Irish.
"My old man used to say, any kick is only as good as the chase, so Dannah [O’Brien, out-half] is going do what Dannah does and look to kick in different areas.
"Like most teams, we have a plan of how we tactically kick and then it comes down to how hard are we willing to work to take away time and space.
"Can we compete, can we get the ball back? Dannah’s kicking has been very good but hopefully the ability of our defensive line and the players chasing kicks to apply pressure from the opposition."
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