Greg McWilliams: Ireland aim to make fans 'proud' against England

Greg McWilliams says Ireland are capable of producing a performance against England that will make the supporters "proud".

Ranked number one in the world, Simon Middleton's Red Roses are on course for another Grand Slam, with Ireland their TikTok Women’s Six Nations round four opponents in Cork on Saturday afternoon (2.15pm, live on RTÉ).

Off the back of three disappointing losses, to Wales, France and Italy, McWilliams, Ireland face a huge challenge to derail the table-toppers who have scored 31 tries so far in the campaign.

Amid a narrative that the team are out of their depth, McWilliams said they can’t afford to pay attention to the outside noise.

"We can only control our inner circle and it’s really important we do our best and there’s some learnings along the way," he said after naming a side that contains three changes from the loss in Parma last Saturday.

"As we grow, we grow on and off the field. We’ve had some good conversations, but we can only control our performance and what we’re looking to get out of this week.

"There possibly has been some negative press but there’s also been some positive press and there are a lot of people out there who are supporting the team for the right reasons.

"We hope we put on a show on Saturday that makes those supporters happy and proud."

Middleton spoke during the week about the long-term viability of such a lopsided Six Nations, with France and England streets ahead of the rest.

"It's a good point, we know the women's game globally has grown massively, it is developing in this country massively, you can see that with our underage structures and our club structures and the amount of people that are playing the game now," said McWilliams, a former Rugby United New York coach.

"There's