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 no doubt that we want the Six Nations to be competitive, I think everyone does because it makes it a better spectacle. England and France are ahead at the moment, we know that, and I think our job as a union is to continue to improve and to develop.
"I've talked openly about the plan that we have in place and I'm really confident in that, and we're on our own journey and there's an old expression that sometimes you must lose sight of the shore to discover new lands.
"We're always conscious of closing gaps and being competitive and this is another weekend where we'll find out a lot about ourselves and we'll reflect and we'll be smart about how we review the game, as we do after every game."
Ireland’s missed tackle count and lineout return have been features of the campaign so far and McWilliams said they are areas they have been working on and expects to see improvements.
He said: "This week certainly we looked around our defensive system and our ability...in the technical part of the tackle, and tactically look at your systems to make sure that you are working towards where you want to be.
"In the lineout, every week you set aside good units of time to make sure that you can work on the lineout and develop it so it’s more efficient."
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Watch Ireland v England in the TikTok Women's Six Nations on Saturday from 2.15pm, follow a live blog on the RTÉ News app or RTÉ.ie/Sport with live commentary on Saturday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1.
