Goode: ‘Inept’ England can return to winning ways
The Leicester fly-half, who makes his first Test match start tomorrow, believes, however, that England can dig sufficiently deep to end their campaign with a return to winning ways thwarting Irish Triple Crown hopes.
England have not scored a try in three hours of six nations action, while the three touchdowns they conceded to France, last weekend, were all assisted by red rose blunders including Goode's speculative pass that wing Christophe Dominici intercepted.
Back-to-back defeats against Scotland and France have consigned England to another six nations' under-achievement, with the 31-6 French loss prompting Andy Robinson into making eight changes, a 20-year record for an England coach in the campaign.
Goode, deputising for an injured Charlie Hodgson, now finds himself in a team that must rise above the distinctly below-average displays in Edinburgh and Paris, and put England back on track ahead of their summer tour to Australia.
The 25-year-old said: "It is not as if we are being completely outplayed, we're just giving other teams the opportunity to score tries through our own ineptitude, so there is a positive buzz around the camp this week.
"It is our last [six nations] game of the season and an opportunity to perform well and put things right.
"What happened in Paris last Sunday is gone now ... so we are looking forward to getting back to Twickenham, and it is important we get a win."
Goode is among only a handful of players to have amassed more than 1,000 Premiership points, but he knows more than just high-class goalkicking will be required as Ireland target a third successive Six Nations victory over England.
"It's no different to any other game," added Goode, who will be partnered at half-back by Leicester colleague Harry Ellis.
"You've got to get the forwards going forward, you've got to get them over the gain-line, plus we've got to be precise in our back play.
"We know how they [Ireland] defend. We have got moves to attack their weak spots we've found on video, and we've got to get back to playing in their half.
"That is always a big part of whatever game you play. Whether the fly-half dominates the territory and gets the team into the right positions to attack from, goes a fair distance as to whether you are going to win or not.
"I have done all my analysis on Ireland. I know where their weak spots are in defence, and it's down to me to call the right shots an perform, get the back-line execution as well as we can and obviously the first thing is dominate territory.
"We know Ireland are going to kick a lot. [Ronan] O'Gara is a very astute tactical kicker, and I need to get on top of him in that part of the game."
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