Max Malins says England are relishing their clash with Italy this weekend, after Eddie Jones gave them the freedom to take their attack “to the next level”.
England are looking to bounce back from their opening Six Nations defeat to Scotland last Saturday - and head coach Jones has told his side to “light up Rome” on Sunday.
Malins says that is music to the ears of the back-line, who are hungry to take the game to Italy after a disappointing performance at Murrayfield.
Attack coach Martin Gleeson has been encouraging players to not be afraid to keep the ball in hand during training this week, with England under pressure to secure a bonus-point victory against the Azzurri.
“It’s been an exciting week,” said Malins (right, in action last week). “We talked a lot about our attack and talked a lot recently about this new England, and where we want to take our attack to the next level.
“To get the freedom from him (Jones) to be courageous and have balls, look for all the opportunities and not go within ourselves is a very exciting prospect. For Eddie to lay down that challenge to us makes it very exciting.
“I think [the main message from training this week] is to take the opportunities in front of us. That’s about all of our scanning and the pictures that we see.
“The earlier we can see the pictures, the better our decision-making will be. The main thing from him (Gleeson) was, ‘let’s not be afraid to keep the ball in hand if the pitch is good for us to run’.
“I thought we were very good at the weekend in pushing Scotland back and pinning those corners. But, at the same time, we don’t want it to be to the detriment of keeping the ball in hand and scoring tries.”
England are big favourites to beat Italy, who have never beaten England and lost their opening game to France last weekend. The Azzurri are also winless in the Six Nations since beating Scotland in 2015.
“We are expected to win — probably expected to win by a lot,” added the 25-year-old Saracens back. “But I think you saw how well the Italians started against France and it is not going to be an easy feat. They have dangerous players, dangerous runners, so we have got to make sure we kill their threats. I think the main thing for us is to really implement our game on them and, hopefully, the scoreboard will take care of itself.
“But, as I have already alluded to, if we make sure we are seeing these opportunities in attack, and make sure we’re executing them, that will take care of itself.”
England will once again be without captain Owen Farrell and his deputy, Courtney Lawes, who are both are out injured.
People have questioned England’s leadership, particularly in the back-line, but Malins says the situation is forcing others to step up.
“I think we’re doing well,” he said. “There are different personalities, and Owen was obviously a massive loss, not only to the back-line but to the team.
“But there are plenty of people chipping in. It’s probably building more leaders, because more people need to talk and get their points of view across.
“There has been a nice balance of a few voices speaking here and there. I don’t think we’re suffering from it — more people are stepping up and stepping into that position.”
