England have urged the boo-boys to lay off Owen Farrell after the No10 was targeted once again before Sunday’s victory over Fiji.
The skipper was jeered during the team announcements and went on to score 20 points to set up a last-four clash with South Africa.
Attack coach Richard Wigglesworth, who played with Farrell at Saracens, passionately defended England’s captain.
‘As ever, tallest trees catch the most wind, and he seems to catch a fair bit of it,’ said Wigglesworth. ‘We are lucky to have him.
‘He has proven time and time and time again, and I don’t understand why in England we feel the need to not celebrate that, or not enjoy it, just because he is not sat in front of social media or media lapping all that up.
England have urged the boo-boys to lay off captain Owen Farrell, who was booed on Sunday
Farrell was jeered during the team announcements ahead of the game against Fiji
‘He is incredibly serious about his career. He is an incredibly proud Englishman, he affects any team he is in, and he was brilliant for us, as we knew he would be. That was the maddening part of any noise – we knew what was coming.’
Head coach Steve Borthwick immediately told his team in the changing rooms he had already devised two ready-made plans for the semi-final; one for South Africa and on for France.
They were immediately ready to get to work after South Africa beat France on Sunday night, before flying up to Paris on Monday afternoon.
‘Usually you’d be analysing one team, we would do that halfway through last week, but we had to analyse two,’ said Wigglesworth no Monday morning.
‘So we will put a bit more meat on the bones in terms of that. We’ve already met and we will be meeting again.
‘I’ve been sent away with a list of stuff to look at and get right so that we can give the players as much clarity as we can on areas we want to go after and what we can do.
‘Then it’s about simplifying as much as we can, because the bigger the game, the more we want it to be clear for them so they can go and put their game out on the field.
‘In terms of a process, it will be pretty thorough throughout the week really before we get to this point. A little bit different than normal, but one that is always enjoyable.’
Attack coach Richard Wigglesworth passionately defended Farrell on Monday
Farrell scored 20 points as England beat Fiji 30-24 to reach the semi-final of the World Cup
England will face South Africa on Saturday, after the Boks beat France 29-28 in Paris in a thrilling contest on Sunday night
England will no doubt tap into their 32-12 defeat by South Africa in the 2019 World Cup final before the fixture in Paris.
They were overpowered physically and emotionally in Japan and Wigglesworth is wary that they have added an additional layer of broken-field attack.
‘They’ve evolved a lot,’ said Wigglesworth.
‘The strength of their game is well known, and how they play, but I think in the last year or so you’ve seen a massive evolution in what they do.
The Springboks are the defending champions and are looking to win a fourth World Cup
England were beaten 32-12 by South Africa in the final four years ago in Japan
‘The difference in who they are picking now, and what that looks like for them. It’s what you want to do as a team. Any team that has been successful ends up having a really strong base and core to their game.
‘This coaching team has been together six years, the players have been together for a large part of that time, so they know what they want to do.
‘But they’ve started adding things to their game with how they move the ball and how they exit, all different things so they’ve now got more variety to them.
‘They’ve got multiple threats now and that’s probably why they are aiming to be one of the best ever.’
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