Borthwick's men must reveal their new identity

Farrell’s free-flowing Slam seekers will provide stiffest test of all at Twickenham

- Nick Purewal

ENGLAND held summit meetings at York Community Stadium last week in a room previously occupied for police taser training.

The stun guns had been removed for safekeeping, much to Richard Wigglesworth's chagrin. The attack coach only half-joked that England would fancy deploying the high-voltage devices on a few of the assembled media.

If anything needs a spark of electricity, though, it is England's new-look gameplan. Facing peerless Ireland at Twickenham tomorrow could well be another serious shock to the system - and even if England can conjure a performance of bite and substance, they could still be in jeopardy of a heavy loss.

England traipsed north last week for a sold-out open training session, but also for clear-the-air talks after the sobering 30-21 defeat by Scotland last month. The reviews will have been more straight-talking than soul-searching, with head coach Steve Borthwick resisting the temptation to pile into his players after an alarming Murrayfield error count.

Borthwick saw the England shirt weigh heavily on his players for the first time in his reign, as they slipped entirely off the pace.

While England have spent this week back at their Surrey base rebuilding confidence, they remain in the grip of another identity crisis.