Taunts didn’t power English
ENGLAND COACH Richard Wigglesworth denied barbs from former coaches and players were the motivation for England’s win over Ireland.
Former Irish No.8 Jamie Heaslip had claimed England would need the men in green to go down to 14 or 13 players in order to win.
And former England head coach Clive Woodward said England must have read his pre-match preview before pulling off Saturday’s 23-22 Twickenham heist.
Ben Earl railed at some of the comments in an interview after the game but attack coach Wigglesworth insisted the outside noise had nothing to do with their stunning performance.
He said: “That is a slippery slope to try and use – we want to get better. The players hear and see it, because you have got your phone right in front of you and use it in an emotional moment, as someone like Ben Earl did. Let’s just stop there and you guys taking some credit from their performance.
Emotions
“Every week is different and you use, as a player, a coaching staff and a team, different things and you will tap into different emotions. We want to be obsessed with getting better, want to keep moving on.
“What people talk about as a disaster for us is a learning experience, so at the end we are moving the dial in the right direction. We have to find everything each week.
Wigglesworth admitted he did put social media clips together at the start of the week to highlight some barbs aimed at the team.
He added: “I would have scrolled back years and years to find some really embarrassing posts. Everyone thinks they are right and that is now put out there so you can read it and believe it, read it or ignore it.”