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England attack coach Richard Wigglesworth says there have been no “pats on the back” after qualifying for the Rugby World Cup quarter-finals.
“Was there a pat on the back? Absolutely not, no. It’s not what we do,” Wigglesworth said.
Steve Borthwick’s side are also guaranteed to top Pool D after wins over Argentina, Japan and Chile.
“It’s not what you do if you’re trying to be any good,” added Wigglesworth. “You try to turn up and get better – and if stuff happens on that back of that, then great.”
England had a disappointing Six Nations at the start of 2023 and lost three of their four summer warm-up matches, including a first defeat by Fiji, meaning they went into the World Cup ranked eighth in the world.
Despite the upturn in form and results, captain Owen Farrell was in agreement with Wigglesworth that it is “not a massive pat on the back”.
“We have still got a long way, hopefully, to go in this competition,” added Farrell, who returned from suspension for the 71-0 win over Chile.
“In regards to people writing us off from the outside, that has not been the case in here. We believe in what we’re doing and have done even when things weren’t going quite as we would want them to.”
After three successive wins in France, Wigglesworth expects Borthwick to name his strongest team to face Samoa in order to maintain their momentum.
“I don’t think there will be experimentation in this game,” he added. “I don’t think the same team will probably get played game after game. The team picked will be the best team to try to beat Samoa.
“As for the outside noise [and criticism], it wasn’t even on our radar in terms of any sort of relief. That side of it, we expected to be where we’re at.”
Following his 16-point haul against Chile, Saracens fly-half Farrell is now only one shy of breaking Jonny Wilkinson’s all-time England record tally of 1,179.
“I didn’t really know it was on the cards before the last game,” said Farrell.
“Jonny was a massive hero of mine and he obviously did it in a bit less time. I have not had a chance to sit down and give it too much thought.”
England will face the runner-up of Pool C, likely to be Fiji, in their quarter-final.
