McWilliams’ side “want to be at the top table”
Speaking to BBC Sport on Wednesday, Red Roses boss Middleton said that the tournament cannot “continue in the guise it is” with England and France currently well clear of the remaining teams in the Six Nations.
While the French had to dig deep for a 22-12 win over Italy in the opening round of this year’s Championship, they subsequently recorded comprehensive successes against Ireland (53-3) and Scotland (55-0).
Despite a spirited effort from their opponents in Cardiff last Saturday, England came away with a 59-3 triumph over Wales to complement emphatic victories at the expense of Scotland (58-7) and Italy (68-5).
Ireland had just secured the Six Nations title when Middleton first assumed the role of English head coach in the summer of 2015 and while their meeting at the same phase of last year’s Six Nations ended in a 69-0 defeat, McWilliams insisted his squad have ambitions to get back to that high level of competitiveness.
“I think in any competition, it’s always going to be better when you have teams that are competitive with each other. We’re aiming for that, we want to be at the top table. We’re just concentrating on what we can control,” McWilliams said.
“We’re working really hard at being more competitive in this short window. Simon is coming over with an English team that are obviously very well fancied and he wants to have competitive matches. I just hope that he sees this weekend an Irish side that are battling and improving as well.”
In addition to Brittany Hogan replacing the injured Dorothy Wall in the back-row, McWilliams has also promoted Vicky Irwin and Molly Scuffil-McCabe back to his starting line-up for tomorrow’s game.
Both players started Ireland’s previous encounter at Musgrave against France and are recalled at inside centre and scrum-half respectively.
“Vicky has been training exceptionally well. There’s Anna McGann, who played last week and is now on the bench, who’ll come on and add real energy. Sometimes you’ve got to reward players that are training exceptionally well and she had a really good week’s training. She deserves a crack at this,” McWilliams added.
“Molly is a very gifted and a very skilled nine. It’s competitive in the nines. Ailsa Hughes is somebody who played well last week, she’s got an excellent pass. Molly brings a certain amount of strengths that we feel is suited for this challenge.
“Then Nicole [Cronin], who we have off the bench, is somebody who brings lots of experience. Who can play multiple positions. She’s back from injury and she adds so much to the group. She is part of our leadership group. She’s from Limerick, so she knows Musgrave Park very well.”