England’s Owen Farrell deserves more recognition says coach،
PARIS, France — A day after Owen Farrell’s victory for England against Fiji, attack coach Richard Wigglesworth believes their captain deserves far more recognition for his career to date.
Farrell contributed 20 points to England’s 30-24 World Cup quarter-final victory over Fiji on Sunday in Marseille. He started at fly-half in place of George Ford, but his name was met with boos from some corners of the stadium when it was read out before the match.
It was a reception that disconcerted the England team. Farrell, 32, is England’s top points scorer, having surpassed Jonny Wilkinson’s previous record in their win over Samoa in Lille on October 7. For Wigglesworth, who retired from the sport in December 2022 and is now part of the England team behind the scenes, he believes his former Saracens and England teammate deserves far more respect.
“We’re lucky to have him,” Wigglesworth said. “As always, the tallest trees catch the most wind, and it seems to catch a lot of it. [He’s] proven [himself] over and over again, and I don’t understand why in England we feel the need not to celebrate this, not to enjoy it, just because it’s not sitting in front of social media or the media isn’t talking of all that.
“He’s incredibly serious about his career, he’s an incredibly proud Englishman, he affects every team he plays for and he’s been brilliant for us, as we knew he would be. It was the game maddening with any noise – we knew what was coming.”
England face the Springboks in the World Cup semi-final on Saturday in Paris, and remain the only undefeated team in the competition. The England team began analyzing France and South Africa last week, preparing for a potential semi-final, and after the Boks’ 29-28 victory on Sunday, they are already on track to finalize a plan for the defending champions.
“We’re going to put a little more meat on the bones this morning, we’ve already met and we’ll meet again and we’ll send you a list of things to look at and sort out so we can give the players as much clarity as possible. can on the areas we want to target,” Wigglesworth said. “It’s about simplifying as much as possible so they can deploy their game on the pitch.
“We’re talking about one of the best rugby teams of all time, who are aiming to get back to back-to-back, who have evolved and who have had a strong coaching team for six years. They have a core of players and they added quality to “That’s an awesome outfit. “
