England lost to Italy last time out, while Wales bounced back from a disappointing opening Six Nations defeat in Ireland with an impressive victory over Scotland. Everett is pleased with how his players are progressing but is wary of a wounded England side.
“We didn’t get everything right against Scotland, and we’ve still got plenty to improve on,” he said. “We are expecting a reaction from England after they lost to Italy, but we can only control what we can control.
“As long as we’ve got our ducks in a line I think we are in a good place to be going there with us controlling what we can. We can’t worry too much about them.
“We’ve just got to focus on ourselves. Our message to the boys against Scotland was clear. We wanted them to stick to their systems, don’t go off script, just keep working on what we’ve talked about all week then we strongly believed the result would come.
“We came on top and it was pleasing to see.” Everett believes his side have the ability to trouble England, but believes it is vitally important his players keep their emotions in check.
“Wales against England is just raw emotion, and the biggest thing for us is trying to control that,” he said. “We’ve got to keep both feet on the ground.
“I think it’s part of the learning curve, going away, controlling the emotions, and just getting into England on Friday night. They are all quite level headed.
“We haven’t had to say much to them because they understand it’s a game of rugby, and you’ve got to take that raw emotion out of it.” Everett is part of a new generation of coaches who have come through the Welsh Rugby Union’s coaching development pathway.
And he praised the WRU for the opportunities which have been given to him. “The Welsh Rugby Union created a hub officer programme a few years back so I started right at the very bottom,” he said.
“I was a hub officer for four years. I did two years in Pontypool in West Monmouth School, so I did my fair share of travelling trying to promote the game to the young pupils. That opponent an opportunity for me to join the Cardiff Rugby age grade system as 16-18s age grade coach.
“That’s progressed to the academy where I’m a full time coach at the Cardiff Rugby academy. I’m currently doing my level four which has given me the opportunity to come into this role.
“Level four is more classroom based. It’s about how you manage people, how you manage groups, how you structure your season, and it gives you different experiences of how to deliver.
“It also gives you the opportunity of becoming a head coach.”
