Stuart Lancaster has called on England rugby fans to remain respectful amid an investigation into the alleged homophobic abuse of referee Nigel Owens.

One fan at Twickenham last week complained of "nasty, foul-mouthed, racist, and homophobic abuse" of the openly gay Welshman during the defeat to New Zealand.

Consequently, the Rugby Football Union have launched an investigation into the matter, and Lancaster, whose side return to Richmond to face South Africa tomorrow, urges supporters to behave themselves.

"Generally you want a crowd that is behind the team but respecting the core values of the sport," he is quoted as saying by the Daily Mail.

"That balance should easily be able to be achieved. That is what we feel the crowd give us. They give us a huge amount of energy.

"I go back to the core values of what we are about. One of those is respect. I think we need to show that as a team and as a country to all opposition players, coaches, referees and opposition spectators as well."

The 45-year-old added that the investigation had his backing: "I'm aware there's an investigation going on and rightly so. We applaud the stance the RFU are taking and the investigation.

"We've worked hard in rugby to get the core values of the sport ingrained in the team and in rugby in general, so there is no place for this whatsoever.

"Respecting the kicker, respecting the opposition and all those things you see are important."

Owens, 43, came out in 2007.