Richard Wigglesworth has explained that England will to fight fire with fire and won’t shy away from the physicality battle that is brewing versus Samoa on Saturday in Lille.
With a quarter-final on the horizon in Marseille on October 15, there might be a temptation for the already qualified English to sit back and let their final Pool D game unfold without fighting fully in the collisions.
However, assistant coach Wigglesworth has explained that England won’t shy away from confrontation despite the run that saw them suffer three red cards in four matches, including the dismissal of Tom Curry less than three minutes into the Rugby World Cup opener versus Argentina on September 9.
The back-rower is now free from suspension and set to play for the first time in four weeks against a Samoan side reeling from their own card troubles which resulted in a red for Ben Lam in last Thursday’s 28-22 defeat to Japan in Toulouse.
“If you ask Kev Sinfield and you have seen how we train, we want to put shots in,” suggested Wigglesworth. “There isn’t a ‘Let’s take it on the chin and let that happen’.
“Anything I have seen from them, the Ben Lam (tackle) was as we have had where you are like you have just got it slightly wrong. There is no I didn’t watch him and think they are going high. They are trying to make big physical tackles as will we.”
Due to their card troubles leading into the tournament, England were branded as an undisciplined side but aside from the Curry red card, they have been squeaky clean at the finals.
Just seven penalties were conceded against Argentina, six versus Japan and just two were given up in the first half against Chile before they lost focus in the second period and nine penalties were conceded.
The ambition now is to get back on track versus Samoa. “It’s something we try to make really important. We had the incidents that we had, no one really believed us when we said that we take discipline really important in this environment but we do.
“We know that it is key to your team winning games so we make it incredibly important, we try and train it that way and review it that way. This weekend it will be no different.”