I went to the ‘great Twickenham revamp’ and this is what I saw

Since the England squad first assembled in early January, complete with new captain Jamie George, a strong emphasis has been placed on reconnecting with the fans and improving the Twickenham matchday experience.

George has spoken passionately about his desire to ‘make Twickenham great again’, revealing that the team had brainstormed ideas prior to their first home game since England’s World Cup warm-up nightmare against Fiji in August. The suggestions focused on making tweaks to the Twickenham matchday routine, which included extending the players’ walk into the stadium upon arrival and playing more music during breaks in play. On Saturday, England fans saw the first impact these suggestions had on the matchday experience.

The extended walk-in was the first and most obvious change, with the bus stopping roughly halfway up the stadium’s drive to give fans greater exposure to the players. Despite the presence of several (somewhat stressed) event planners, the players’ walk from the bus was a great moment and helped to build the atmosphere around the ground as kick-off approached. Further to this, the stewards narrowed the walkway which allowed fans to get close to the players and even have the odd high-five.

‌England’s recent home record has been below par, with the team only winning five of their past 13 matches at Twickenham. More worryingly, the striking statement of Warren Gatland earlier in the week that he doesn’t find Twickenham “intimidating at all” further illustrates the need for England to re-establish their home advantage. For the question that many fans will pose; if England can’t win at home, where will they?

The atmosphere at Twickenham is strange and can quite quickly switch from booming to quiet – Saturday’s encounter provided plenty of examples of this. The anthems were both hair raisers, and the first 10 minutes of the match really got the stadium buzzing. But England failed to convert their chances, and as they faded, so did the crowd. The two Welsh tries proved to further quiet the home support, with only Ollie Chessum’s yellow card leading to a furious response, echoing boos around the ground. Conversely, England’s fightback in the second half which consisted of a monumental defensive effort and more expansive play reignited the fans back into full voice despite a nervy last 10 minutes.

Many have referenced the success of Harlequins’ annual ‘Big Game’ as the blueprint to get HQ rocking and bring a new generation of England fans in. However, even with the attraction of a full DJ set before kick-off and the familiar pyrotechnics show, the reason the stadium is packed and has a great atmosphere is down to the rugby on display. We have actually seen this proven during the match against New Zealand in 2022. While the light show and fireworks were a great way to get the fans excited, the stadium was immediately silenced three minutes in by Dalton Papalii’s interception. It was only when England decided to turn it on in those last 10 minutes that the crowd came back to life.

Some other tweaks came during the match, with more music played in breaks and the use of graphics to try and give fans a better understanding of the state of play. The increased frequency of music was a nice addition – especially when the nearly 82,000-strong crowd were belting out numbers such as Hey Jude and Wonderwall, which turned out to be a good way to distract from the seemingly endless scrum resets and TMO referrals.

The graphics were… interesting. Although it was somewhat informative to see scrum and lineout success rates mid-game, the statistics might have been better suited to half-time and full-time to give fans a chance to fully take these in. Something else that stood out came after the end of the match. While in the past players tended to disappear into the changing room relatively swiftly, several stuck around long after the final whistle to sign autographs, take selfies and just be amongst the fans.

Although all of these can be regarded as positive changes to the overall matchday experience, the factor that would help the most was simply put by a fan I was sitting next to: “win”. It’s difficult to argue with.

So, while the tweaks made for Saturday’s match might not have given England an easier game, it’s refreshing to see the team make visible actions to improve their relationship with the fans and the overall matchday experience. But for all of this to have the impact they’re hoping, England must make Twickenham a fortress, for fans and players alike.