Owen Farrell remains focused despite being on the verge of rewriting history

The 32-year-old's 16-point haul against Chile last week took him to within one point of Jonny Wilkinson's all-time record tally of 1,179.

However, it won't be on Farrell's mind as the World Cup moves into knockout territory.

"I didn't really know it was on the cards before the last game," he said.

"Jonny was a massive hero of mine and he obviously did it in a bit less time.

"I have not had a chance to sit down and give it too much thought."

Farrell's tally of 1,178 has come in 108 appearances, compared to Wilkinson's 91, with the Wiganer's points per game of 10,91 just behind the World Cup-winning hero's 12.96.

Interestingly, Farrell has almost twice as many tries (10-6) than Wilkinson, and far more conversions (187-162).

While Farrell has slightly more penalties to his name (248-239), a huge chunk of Wilkinson's points came from drop goals (36), compared to only three from the man about to surpass him.

It remains to be seen whether Farrell will wear the No.10 or No.12 shirt in Saturday's final group game against Samoa in Lille.

The man himself will leave that decision to coach Steve Borthwick.

"You're asking the wrong person," Farrell smiled. "What we will see going forward, that is up to Steve obviously, so I'm not thinking about anything beyond training.

"I enjoyed being back out there myself against Chile and as I said after the game, you're talking about two top, top players (Marcus Smith and George Ford).

"To have them out there on the field with you was obviously brilliant."

Farrell also tipped flanker Tom Curry to bounce back after serving his suspension for being sent off three minutes into the opening group game against Argentina, which England went on to win 27-10.

"He is okay, he is good, he is training well," added the England captain.

"He is in a good place. I don't think there's too much revving up Tom can do anyway so he's pretty much at 100 per cent every time at training.

"I'm sure he has got a bit of frustration not being involved and I'm sure he can't wait to show what he can do."

While the Samoa game is effectively a dead rubber, Farrell wants England to use it to continue the momentum they’ve managed to put together.

After arriving at the tournament in no form, and having been written off by all and sundry, wins over Argentina, Japan and Chile – scoring 132 points and conceding only 22 – have raised the expectation level somewhat.

"We have still got a long way, hopefully, to go in this competition,” added Farrell.

"In regards to people writing us off from the outside, that has not been the case in here.

"We believe in what we're doing and have done even when things weren't going quite as we would want them to."