Richard Wigglesworth said England are nonplussed by fans booing Owen Farrell.
Loud boos met the announcement of Farrell’s name when the line-up was read to the crowd before their Rugby World Cup kick-off yesterday.
Farrell spearheaded the gritty quarter-final win over Fiji, and attack coach Wigglesworth launched a staunch defence of the fly-half and captain, who landed 20 points with the boot in a masterful Marseille performance.
“We’re lucky to have Owen, and as ever, the tallest trees catch the most wind and he seemed to catch a fair bit of it,” said Wigglesworth.
“But he’s proven himself time and time and time again.
“I don’t understand why in England we feel the need to not celebrate that, not enjoy it just because he’s not sat in front of social media or media lapping all that up.
“He’s incredibly, incredibly serious about his career, he’s an incredibly proud Englishman, he affects any team he’s in. He was brilliant for us as we knew he would be.
“That was the maddening part of any noise, we knew what was coming in his performance.”
Wigglesworth hailed a special week ahead for the squad as they prepare to take on defending champions South Africa on Saturday in Paris.
The former Saracens and England scrum-half said: “It’s knockout rugby, why does everyone turn up to watch sport? Because you don’t know the result beforehand.
“It would be boring if we knew the result, wouldn’t it. We’re not here for a holiday, we’re not here just to turn up. We want to put the best of ourselves on the field, and if we do that, we’ll be in with a chance.
“How special is it to beat France, the form they are in, in their own backyard? That was a special performance from an incredible team.
“We are probably talking about one of the best rugby teams to ever do it, aren’t we? We are talking about a team that’s aiming for back to back [titles], who have evolved, who have moved on and had a settled coaching team for six years, with settled players and they have added quality to it. So they are an impressive outfit.”
