Inside their pressure cooker World Cup camp, England’s coaches have urged their players to block out the “white noise” of external criticism as they prepare to face Australia in Saturday’s do-or-die clash.
Following last weekend’s dramatic and traumatic Twickenham defeat against Wales, former players and coaches lined up to criticise poor decision making and discipline within the side. The 2003 World Cup winner Sir Clive Woodward called the side “amateurs” while former captain Will Carling accused current coach Stuart Lancaster of creating a “classroom” environment that treated players like “schoolboys” and left them unable to think for themselves.
Amid growing signs that England were adopting a bunker mentality in the face of unprecedented pressure at their home World Cup Mike Catt, the attacking skills coach, insisted they would not let external criticism derail them.
“If you get concerned about external effects you are not in a good place and lose focus about what your job is,” said Catt, who was capped 75 times by England and was part of the 2003 World Cup winning squad. “Our job is to beat Australia, not to worry about criticism from ex-players or whatever. For us it’s external white noise that is totally irrelevant to what we need to do as a team.”
Despite speculation as to how Lancaster would reshuffle his side given ongoing injury concerns, the Rugby Football Union refused to provide updates before the team is named on Thursdaytomorrow. The Bath centre Jonathan Joseph, who was missing against Wales with a chest injury, arrived to train in full kit on a mountain bike but sat out the opening portion of session that could be observed by the media.
Joseph, the current England player of the year, could be seen hiding behind a curtain in the RFU’s training complex at Pennyhill Park, waiting for the media caravan to depart. The scrum-half Ben Youngs was also expected to take part in the hope that his ankle is recovered in time for Saturday.
“Our focus is beating Australia. Like last week it’s a must win. We’re massively excited,” said Catt. “The fact we’ve got Australia at Twickenham. It’s going to be an exciting match and everything is on this one game.”
Asked twice about Carling, who on Tuesday released a new video clip to justify his earlier criticism, Catt reiterated: “It’s external white noise that is irrelevant to us beating Australia.”
As catchphrases repeated in team meetings have a habit of cropping up in press briefings, it is safe to assume the mantra of ignoring “external white noise” has been transmitted to the players.
Asked whether the players and coaches would be able to use the criticism as fuel to prove their detractors wrong when they face Australia, Catt highlighted the close-knit nature of the squad.
“Each person will deal with it differently. For us, you rally round each other like we always have,” he said. “This group has always been tight-knit since Stuart’s been involved. Again, it’s only someone’s opinion. That’s not going to affect what we do. You win, you don’t get any white noise.”
After Richard Wigglesworth hit back at Carling’s criticisms, the former captain took to YouTube to explain his reasoning. “We have got to be honest with ourselves, we’ve got to be brutal. I know some of the coaches feel that if you criticise you’re not a supporter,” said Carling.
“I don’t believe that. I don’t believe that going ‘ra ra England’ with your eyes closed means you’re a great English supporter. The players and coaches have got to be brutally honest with each other, because that is how you get a team to be successful.”
Outside the England bubble, organisers on Tuesday hailed the tournament as a record breaking success so far. A total of 2.39m tickets have now been sold and more than 378,000 fans have watched matches in official fanzones.
Organisers also said that by this weekend more fans would have engaged with the tournament via social media than during the entire duration of the 2011 Rugby World Cup. “We’re delighted that fans new and old have taken Rugby World Cup 2015 to their hearts, and are embracing all the excitement, drama and passion that comes with hosting such an exciting world-class event on home soil,” said England Rugby 2015 managing director Stephen Brown.
“We are thrilled to secure two Rugby World Cup record breaking attendances within the first two weeks of the tournament and approach a total of one million fans enjoying such compelling rugby in our match venues.”
