Will run the show at Twickenham
Johnny, he’s fine, but he missed a bit of time with his thumb so he’s a little bit behind and we know how well he plays for us, we don’t feel that he needs a lot of time with the experience that he’s got.
“So, for us, the guys that need the time are probably Ross and Jack and they’ve got the opportunity to do that this weekend, that they’ll share a bit of time, I’d say, in the middle.
“Ross’s ability to control the game, it’s one of the things that was defining between Joey and him at Leinster, probably in that Ross ran the game and Joey ran well individually, but I think it’s also something that comes with a rhythm and game time.
“Jack, whenever he came off the bench for us in the Six Nations, I thought he did a super job, so we have a lot of confidence in Jack being able to control the game and we do think he can bring a bit of a change up off the bench.
“Either way, I think they’ll both get a bit of game time on Saturday to demonstrate what they can bring to the game.”
After a week of warm-weather training in Portugal, Ireland flew to London yesterday ahead of tomorrow’s game and Van der Flier says Ireland have been working on negating the English power ahead of their first meeting since their disappointing Six Nations opener.
“You can’t give them that momentum,” said the 26-yearold, who starts in the back row alongside Peter O’Mahony and CJ Stander.
“They’re extremely dangerous. Any of the games they’ve played in the last couple of years they get gain-line, someone like Billy or Mako (Vunipola) makes a big carry, they get quick ball and they’re very dangerous.
“You can’t afford to give them that, don’t let them win the gainline and don’t let them get those quick rucks. That’s the key.
“They’ve some incredible ball-carriers, but we’ve to try and shut them down. Once you shut them down you take away a major threat.”