England are intent on winning back the Twickenham fans when they take on Wales at the weekend and are trying to erase the haunting memories of a bleak summer.
Steve Borthwick’s side return to action for the first time since August, when they were defeated 30-22 by Fiji in a World Cup friendly. At best, the atmosphere that day could be described as one of indifference towards the home team; boos and jeers signaled the final whistle.
Although the defeat was not mentioned during England’s preparations for the weekend, the experience is clearly painful. Freddie Steward insisted the revamped squad with new captain Jamie George is “drawing a line in the sand”.
Steward started the Fiji game at full-back and looked set to make his 33rd appearance on Saturday. He described England fans as the “heartbeat” of the team and is keen to win the same level of support that characterized the raucous World Cup semi-final against South Africa.
“As players, when you play for England you are expected to win,” Steward said. “When you don’t win, understandably the fans aren’t there for you and it was a bit of that in the warm-ups.
“During the World Cup, when we got to the semi-finals, we felt: ‘This is how it can be’. As players we always want this, but to win this we need to perform on the field. They are the heartbeat of what we do.
“We want Twickenham to boom and we want it to be a place where we want to play in front of our fans and represent them. I would never blame the fans and say they should lift it. They do it based on what we do, so the responsibility is on us.”
England avenged their first defeat against Fiji at the World Cup, defeating the Pacific Islanders in a tough quarter-final. England scrum coach Richard Wigglesworth will be hoping to build on Saturday’s victory over Italy with another determined performance to attract the attention of those involved.
“Twickenham is a great place to play as English players,” he said. “The context of this [Fiji] The game is very different from this. Twickenham will be a great place to play for our players and we all know that playing well in sport and winning games drives everyone towards that goal, and so does playing with incredible passion, it shows exactly what it means to play. England.
“Fans will have seen that from this group in Rome. Is it always going to be perfect? Are we close to where we want to be? No. But here is a team you can get behind because of the way they go about their business on and off the pitch.”
Smith’s Six Nations campaign still in the balance
England, meanwhile, remain optimistic that Ellis Genge will recover from his foot injury against Wales and hope to welcome Ollie Lawrence back to training this week.
Lawrence, who missed the start of the Six Nations due to a hip problem, will not be able to play this weekend. He and George Martin are targeting the Calcutta Cup clash against Scotland on February 24.
But this match will come too soon for Marcus Smith, whose chances of making the Six Nations look slim.
“Ellis attended training today and we hope he will be available over the weekend,” Wigglesworth said. “But obviously we need to get through the rest of the week.”
“George Martin is in camp with us this week for rehab and is unavailable over the weekend,” he added. “Ollie Lawrence could potentially come later this week, maybe next week. Again, he’s not available this weekend.”
Smith’s campaign is still hanging in the balance due to the calf problem the fly-half picked up at Girona. “If we take him back it looks like he will be further behind in the tournament,” Wigglesworth said. “It won’t happen in the next few weeks.”
Wigglesworth believes Cardiff-born wing Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, who represents Wales Under-18s, will relish the chance to take on Warren Gatland’s duties. Feyi-Waboso was given a first try in the form of a brief cameo from the Stadio Olimpico bench; This was enough to demonstrate his carrying power and willingness to pressure opponents defensively.
Borthwick has pledged to back Feyi-Waboso and Wigglesworth hinted they would be ready to include him in Saturday’s squad.
“Yes [think he would relish it]said. “You never know what’s going on inside someone’s head, but that’s exactly the vibe they give off. This is another week where he will train and potentially be involved with England.
“This is one of the things that comes up when it’s brought up, [you’re thinking] ‘Am I going to try to look for something I wasn’t looking for a week ago?’. And even in this we see nothing. “He was good today, he was good all week, so he executed it really well.”