Freddie Steward urges England to raise Twickenham crowd

England full-back Freddie Steward has urged his team-mates to give Twickenham fans reason to be loud and proud again during Saturday's Six Nations match against Wales, after players were booed in previous home matches that ended in defeat.

England have lost four of their last six home matches. They left Twickenham with their heads down, having been booed by the crowd following a 53-10 defeat to France in last year's Six Nations, their heaviest defeat at the stadium.

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They suffered similar treatment again in their last home game, a 30-22 defeat to Fiji in a World Cup warm-up match in August.

“Being back home for the first time since last summer also means we're a new group,” Steward told reporters ahead of England's first home game of the year.

“I would never say the fans have to lift us up, they do it because of what we do – so the responsibility [to perform] Is ours.”

As a player, when you play for England you're expected to win. So when you don't, you naturally don't have the fans on our side,” the 23-year-old added.

“The fans are at the heart of what we do. We want Twickenham to pop, and we want it to be a place where we want to go and play in front of our fans and represent them.”

England will need support more than ever as the team contains several new faces, including flanker Ethan Roots and center Fraser Dingwall, who both made their debuts against Italy last weekend.

Jamie George replaced Owen Farrell as captain, while the coaching staff also underwent a shake-up after the World Cup with defense coach Felix Jones and skills consultant Andrew Strawbridge being recent additions.

“It's basically a new start, we've had our World Cup and we're at the start of a new cycle with new faces and new coaches,” Steward said.