Johnny Sexton and Conor Murray’s kicking threat has been a huge focus of Red Rose training in Portugal.
England launch their Six Nations assault with a daunting mission to face the defending champions in Dublin on Saturday.
Full-back Elliot Daly and wingers Jack Nowell and Jonny May know the Irish half-backs will boot the ball high at Aviva Stadium — and send it spiralling down with snow on!
So Aussie coach Craig, who has bossed AFL sides Melbourne and Adelaide, has been fine-tuning Eddie Jones’ aerial attack dogs.
Scrum-halves Ben Youngs and Dan Robson took on the roles of playing Murray and World Player of the Year Sexton during the past eight days in the Algarve.
They dip special grip-less balls into buckets of soapy water and send them high into the sky.
Daly and Co are then put under pressure by England attack coach Scott Wisemantel, who tries to distract by whacking them with a foam noodle.
The idea is not just to catch the ball under pressure — but take it on the run, going forward to counter- attack Ireland’s deadly weapon.
While running the drill Craig, an expert on coping with aerial balls in the brutal sport of Aussie Rules, barks out, “Send a message!”
That is to focus players’ minds on attack as they leap to claim the slippery bar of soap — an attempt to replicate the dreaded Dublin conditions.
Using a grid with a ‘red zone’ duplicates the likely place where a big hit will come from the chasing Irish runners.
Other members of the England team will need to protect the catcher from an immediate tackle, allowing the counter-punch.
With Dalyhaving had a poor autumn in the air, boss Jones could have made the easy decision to recall England’s most-capped No 15, Mike Brown.
Instead, he has backed the Wasps star, 26, who now looks certain to be his World Cup starter in Japan — as long as he survives his Irish examination. After picking Daly at full-back for eight games in a row, Aussie Jones said: “Dropping a couple of balls is not an indication to me he hasn’t done well.
“There are so many other factors involved. I also think we’re much better at tracking back now to protect our catchers, which is a massive part of the game.
“Elliot is a great catcher. He’s been doing a lot of work with Neil, who is from an Aussie Rules background.
“We’ve got every bit of confidence in Elliot — and we’ve got confidence in our team supporting well.
“Before, you used to kick, clap and chase. Now you kick, you protect, you make sure your catcher’s got a good situation to catch in.”
When Daly, who is set to join Saracens from Wasps next season, was asked what he needed to bring to his aerial game, he said: “A kind of aggression.
“On that first high ball, you have to be up for it and own the space.
“Ireland go to their kicking game more than we would.
“Going on the Lions tour with them, and seeing how they do things, was great and gives you an insight into what you could face this weekend.
“Whoever wins the kicking game and the aerial battle goes a long way to winning the game. It will come our way — and it is about how we deal with it.
“There is a lot on the line and it will be a pressurised situation.
“Sometimes you can get directly under the ball and then it is hard to get up. So it is all about reading the flight, making sure you can be aggressive into it and owning that space where the ball is.”
Daly’s sidekick Nowell will also be there to protect him.
The Exeter Chiefs star has been called a street fighter by Jones — and touted as a new breed of hybrid player who could join the forwards.
Nowell joked he was disappointed to be wearing the No 11 shirt instead of No 7 after that praise.
And he admitted: “I got a bit of stick from the boys. I’ve seen the way the forwards train and don’t think I can hack that.
“They get beaten up pretty badly so while I’m still a bit younger, I’ll still stay in the backs.
“When I get into my 30s, maybe I can venture into the back-row. My nose has been broken — but I’m still not looking too bad!
“I enjoy getting stuck into the breakdown. And if I’ve got a licence to get stuck in even more, then that’s even better.”
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