Steward wants Twickenham to be ‘difficult place to come’ as England aim to win back home crowd

Published 06/02/2024 at 23:06 GMT

Freddie Steward admits England are desperate to make Twickenham a fortress again. Steve Borthwick’s side return to home soil this weekend, when they take on Wales in the Six Nations. It’s their first game at headquarters since a first ever defeat to Fiji ahead of the 2023 World Cup. They were booed off after that game, but Steward is vowing to win back the home crowd.

Freddie Steward of England applauds the fans at full-time after the teams victory in the Guinness Six Nations 2024 match between Italy and England at Stadio Olimpico on February 03, 2024 in Rome, Italy.

Image credit: Getty Images

Freddie Steward insists a new-look England side will win back the Twickenham crowd when they face Wales in the Six Nations this weekend.

Steve Borthwick’s team are playing their first match on home soil since being booed off after a first-ever defeat to Fiji last year.

That was far from the ideal send off ahead of the 2023 World Cup in France, but they still managed to reach the semi-finals, before suffering a heartbreaking defeat to South Africa.

Steward hopes that run to the last four means they will not get such a negative reaction at home this time around, but admits the onus is on the team to get the crowd onside.

“I would never blame the fans, and say they need to lift [the players],” he said. “They do that on the back of what we do, so the responsibility is ours.

“We are fortunate we have got an incredible set of fans and they play a part in it.”

England have been through a lot of change since the World Cup, including Owen Farrell being replaced as skipper by Jamie George.

That was their opening game at this year’s Six Nations, where they are attempting to lift the title for the first time since 2020.

Having finished 5th, 3rd and 4th in the last three editions of the tournament, Borthwick’s side are expected to put up a much better showing the time around.

And Steward says their form at Twickenham will be crucial to any success.

“We have spoken about that as a team,” he continued. “How do we make Twickenham a place where we can be our best and make it a difficult place to come?

“Us being back at home is also synonymous with us being a new group. This is essentially a fresh start.

“We have had our World Cup and we are on the start of a new cycle with fresh faces, new coaches and this is our chance to draw a line in the sand.

“As players when you play for England you are expected to win and when you don’t win, understandably you don’t have the fans on your side and there was a bit of that in the warm-ups.

“During the World Cup when we got to the semi-final it felt like that is what it can be like. As players we want that all the time but we have to put the performances on the field to earn that.

“They are the heartbeat of what we do. We want Twickenham to erupt and we want it to be a place we want to go and play in front of our fans and represent them.”

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