Owen Farrell shrugs off selection debate

England's Owen Farrell has insisted that question marks over his selection for England's crucial World Cup match against Wales do not affect him and said that only the opinions of people inside the team's camp matter.

The 24-year-old will start at fly-half in place of George Ford at Twickenham on Saturday evening despite the latter having been selected against Fiji.

Farrell insisted earlier on Friday that his friendship with Ford has not been affected by the head coach's decision ahead of the Pool A showdown, and vowed to focus on the match rather than any external debate.

"It is what it is and I am thankful that I have got this opportunity," he told reporters. "People can say what they want, it is the people inside the camp that count to me. External matters don't matter to us. We have been exactly the same.

"[The selection criticism] does not matter to me, it does not motivate me. The people that matter to me are inside this camp. All I want to do is do my job for this team.

"Everybody is excited about the game, this is why you play rugby, to play in games like this."

Both England and Wales won their opening Pool A matches last week.