AUCKLAND, New Zealand -- England have brushed aside criticism of their allegedly one-dimensional approach, with some players burying themselves in TikTok videos as others stand defiant behind a game plan that has seen them rumble into the Rugby World Cup final against New Zealand on Saturday.
Sitting alongside the Black Ferns at the top of the tournament's try-scoring chart with 38 five-pointers apiece, the way the Red Roses have gone about their business has been under the microscope both in the local mainstream media and on social media, with some labelling England's game plan as "boring".
With 24 of England's 38 tries originated off the back of their incredibly efficient line-out maul, the Red Roses outside backs have had little chance to shine with ball in hand - Abby Dow's impressive try against Canada in the semifinal notwithstanding.
The fact England have had to defend their game plan throughout the World Cup has become tedious for the likes of fly-half Zoe Harrison, who has had to field questions on their tactics almost endlessly.
Faced with the question yet again in the lead up to the Saturday's sold-out decider at Eden Park, Harrison was quick to bat away any criticism of her side's game plan once more, revealing she'd turned to TikTok to distract herself from the endless chatter.
"I mean, I don't think people realise but it was pissing down with rain when we played Australia, I'm not sure that we wanted to fling the ball about left, right and centre," Harrison told ESPN. "But if that's how you're going to win a game we don't really care for what other people have to say about it.
"I've been asked that [same] question but I haven't seen anything [in the media] because I don't actually look at the media, I spend my time on TikTok instead so I don't really know what's said.
"But yeah, people have said that and I've just answered back, 'well obviously I don't care because I haven't seen it and I'm here to win a World Cup', so if that's how we're going to win that's what I'm going to do."
An avid TikTok watcher, the 24-year-old is also a creator herself with over 10k followers on the platform where she produces videos centred around her performances on the pitch as well as glimpses of her personal life. Her favourite TikTok? Definitely not the corn kid song that trended for over a month across every social platform and created seemingly endless imitations.
Teammate Marlie Packer, who's been a major beneficiary of England's rolling maul-centred game plan with five tries herself this tournament, says she simply ignores the media or takes the criticism with a pinch of salt.
"Oh no, no, I don't really like reading," Packer said with a laugh when asked if she reads news on the team. "Obviously you see things or headlines and you think you might have a little look at that, and you see some stuff and you just think 'fair enough, that's your personal opinion on it', but you've just got to trust in yourself and what you're doing yourself.
"A lot of people talked about England's maul and said 'it's boring...blah, blah' and we could play with more ball in hand or whatever, but actually if we're winning games [then] what does it matter? That's your opinion, but we put a lot of work into what we do and how we do it.
"You've got to take it with a little pinch of salt. If you put yourself out there and prepare to be the best team in the world then you know people are going to critique you, whether you read that and you take the negative or you just ignore it and just carry on doing what you're doing.
"People will write and say what they want to say, some of it's really positive stuff and sometimes someone says something negative, but you know you don't have control over that.
"That's just some person's opinion and you just have to go out and do you, be the best version of yourself and it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks. The best version of you is the best version of you."
Pushed to the wire by Canada in an enthralling semifinal clash, the encounter was widely seen as a test that came at exactly the right time for the Red Roses after they had eased through their quarterfinal against Australia and run riot in two of their three pool matches.
But Harrison isn't buying it, England's fly-half pointing to the arm wrestle against France in the pool stages as well as their many encounters during the Six Nations previously as good preparation for this weekend's decider.
"Everyone keeps saying this, but we played France in the pool stages and we do it all the time," Harrison told ESPN. "We play France in the Six Nations, we've played these [tough] games a lot and it's good that we do get to play these games.
"It would be good if we got to play them [tough games] a little bit more, but it's also nice that we get to mix it up and play different teams because then a different attack comes at you and you face a different defence."
Labelled a clash of northern hemisphere and southern hemisphere game styles, the Black Ferns have been prolific at scoring from almost anywhere on the park, registering the most offloads and clean breaks of the tournament. It's different to what the Red Roses are used to facing in Europe, but that doesn't mean they're not prepared.
"We know what to expect. They can throw the ball about, but Australia can throw it about as well and we prepared for them to do stuff like that as well," Harrison told ESPN. "We know what we've got ahead of us and what we need to do to stop them being able to do it.
"It's not just the kicking game, there [are] other ways of pinning them back in their 22, so it's not all about the kicking game. We know they have a good back three as well so it's about how we can get on top of their back three so they can't utilise them if we do kick to them."
Asked how the Red Roses would counteract the Black Ferns offensive weapons Portia Woodman and Ruby Tui, Harrison's response what emphatic.
"I've got Abby Dow on my team, so that's the way of counteracting them."