Twickenham residents fear the famous England national team's rugby ground will be "the laughing stock of the World Cup" as a sewage problem plagues the London suburb.

They've even taken to calling it "Stinkenham" or "Stinkers" as a $300 million upgrade of the nearby Mogden Sewage Treatment Works fails to clear the air.

Ignoring the pong: England's Sam Burgess goes into contact at Twickenham last weekend. Credit:AP

The upgrades have included installing odour-reducing equipment and covers and refurbishing the odour control units at the sprawling plant that is designed to deal with 1600 million litres of sewage a day, servicing 2.1 million people from a 30km radius.