Wallace not fazed by the 'fortress'
February 15, 2002

Ireland's David Wallace is not fazed by the prospect of taking on England at 'fortress Twickenham'.

"I learned long ago that it's not the ground which wins games, but the players on the pitch," he said.

"Twickenham might be a source of comfort and a spur for England, but I think it's the guys on the pitch who make the breaks and call the shots.

"Hopefully it won't be too large an influence - it shouldn't be."

The two sides go into the showdown looking to maintain their perfect start to the Lloyds TSB Six Nations Championship.

Clive Woodward's men thrashed Scotland 29-3 at Murrayfield, while O'Sullivan takes his troops to Twickenham on the back of a resounding 54-10 win over Wales at Lansdowne Road two weeks ago.

One of O'Sullivan's first moves on taking over from Warren Gatland in December was to appoint a defensive coach and he opted for Mike Ford, the former Wigan and Castleford rugby league stand-off.

The ex-Oldham head coach has had little time to impress his thinking on the Irish squad, but his work brought praise from O'Sullivan after the win against Wales.

And while Wallace claims the team is already feeling the benefits, he believes there is a long way to go before the system is perfected.

"It is probably a little too early to tell, but certainly the structure against Wales did seem to work fairly well," said Wallace.

"But with everything new it takes a while to master it and it's not the finished article yet.

"It's going to take time, a lot of patience and a lot of concentration to get it right. Hopefully we can develop it a little bit more at the weekend."

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