The England camp are trying desperately to distance themselves from criticism of their performance against Wales last week, with skills coach Mike Catt dismissing it as “irrelevant white noise” yesterday.
Though England played well for the first hour of Saturday’s Pool A match, they also allowed Wales to stay in touch through a series of penalties and the decision-making that led to the late call not to kick for a potentially score-levelling goal has been widely attacked in the wake of Wales’s 28-25 victory.
Former England captain Will Carling was among the most outspoken, when he said there was a prescriptive environment and that the players were treated as schoolboys.
Catt, a World Cup winner in 2003, said the team were ignoring such comments.
“The criticism is external white noise, which is irrelevant,” he told reporters.
“We are massively excited that we’ve got Australia at Twickenham and everything is on this one game for us.”
Scrumhalf Richard Wiggles-worth, who is in line for a possible start on Saturday if Ben Youngs fails to recover from an ankle injury, said Carling, who played the last of his 73 internationals 18 years ago, was out of touch.
“Certain people who have come out and said things should know better,” he said.
“We knew coming into this that it (the criticism) could be like this but if they don’t know – and he doesn’t – and hasn’t played the game for how long and hasn’t been involved in professional rugby for how long...?
“Let’s have a meaningful discussion about his knowledge, about what he knows about the game. He is there to further his own career.”
Catt has long experience of external and internal criticism, having been dropped and recalled probably more times than any other England player en route to winning 75 caps over a 13-year test career that included two World Cup finals.
“If you get concerned about the external effects you are not in a good place,” he said. “Our job is to beat Australia. Whoever we pick we have total belief that we can score tries.
“We are doing everything to make sure we get it right. We are very confident with the players making the right decisions.
“Australia are a dangerous side but there is a massive belief that we will go out and play.”
Played yesterday
Pool C: Tonga vs Namibia - 35-21