ENGLAND have been tapping into inside knowledge gathered during the 2017 British and Irish Lions tour to help devise their plan to unpick Andy Farrell’s Ireland defence.

Farrell is recognised as the sport’s foremost coach in his area and breaking down the Six Nations champions is critical to causing an upset in tomorrow’s Lansdowne Road collision.

England supplied the largest contingent of players to the Lions squad that travelled to New Zealand, with Farrell overseeing Warren Gatland’s defence and Steve Borthwick — Eddie Jones’s assistant — guiding the pack.

When asked for the approach to toppling Ireland, attack coach Scott Wisemantel said: “Score more points than they do. We’ll chip away.

“We’ve got some things in place to combat their defence and we’ve studied that really hard.

“A guy we’ve tapped into is Steve Borthwick, who spent time with Andy Farrell on the Lions tour. We fully respect their system.”

Manu Tuilagi is making his first Six Nations start for six years after recovering from serious knee, chest and groin injuries and must start in the unaccustomed position of inside centre having played most of his rugby at 13.

Wisemantel has been drilling the Leicester battering ram on the nuances of operating in the 12 jersey during England’s pre-Six Nations training camp in Portugal.

“If he hasn’t adapted well enough then I’ve failed. I’ve got all the confidence in the world in him. I don’t think it’s that big a challenge,” the Australian said.

“Manu feels pretty confident there. He’s got great players either side of him. Henry Slade has really grown into that 13 role and Owen Farrell is world-class.

“Manu is fit and well, he’s in a good head space. Physically he’s running really well, so there’s no reason for us to fear playing him at 12 at all.

“Ben Te’o dropped out because of injury and so Manu comes in — it’s a bit of a like for like replacement.”

Ireland enter the clash as emphatic favourites to make a successful start to their title defence, with the kicking mastery of Jonathan Sexton and Conor Murray a crucial asset.

“Ireland have very, very good players who have played a lot together,” Wisemantel said.

“That’s one of the advantages with the system here in Ireland. They have a smaller pool so they get continuity.

“That consistency of combinations is something you see with them and they can hold the ball for a long period of time.

“We saw it in last year’s Six Nations against France, right at the back end when they had to hold the ball, went the full length and won the game. They’re an outstanding team.

“They’re kicking game is shrewd, very shrewd, and that comes with combinations.

“They play a lot of rugby together and a lot of high class pressure rugby, which means you have to have a good kicking game, whether that’s from nine or 10 or around the edges, they kick well.”