George Ford on the key difference between the RWC squads of Lancaster's failures and Jones' hopefuls
George Ford has revealed the fundamental difference between the England squad heading to the World Cup in Japan under Eddie Jones and the disastrous 2015 campaign that saw the host country fail to make the knockout stages.
That debacle saw the departure of the coaching team headed by Stuart Lancaster and allowed Jones to take over and stamp his own authority on the players as he battled to identify the 31 players who will attempt to replicate the trophy-winning triumph of the 2003 England squad.
Ford believes that four years ago the players were too focussed on making the squad rather than winning the tournament and that has changed under Jones.
Lancaster’s campaign was hampered by the controversy surrounding his decision to include rugby league star Sam Burgess in the final squad at the expense of Northampton’s Luther Burrell. It was a move that proved to be a constant thorn in the management’s side during the tournament where they lost key pool games to Australia and Wales.
Ready to lead England for the second successive game against Wales in Cardiff on Saturday, Ford said: “The main thing is that I felt in 2015 the most important thing was getting into the squad to play in the World Cup rather than putting all your focus and energy into being a squad that can go out and win it.
How does it feel to win your first England cap?
Priceless.
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— England Rugby (@EnglandRugby) August 16, 2019
“In 2015 it was more of an individual thing with wanting to be part of the World Cup whereas now it is a case of we know where we are as a squad, so let’s put all our energy and focus into making sure we are as tight as possible to go out and win the thing.
“It is a bit of a different mindset because you put your energies into being part of a successful England team rather than being part of an England team going to a World Cup.
“There are quite a few of the lads who were involved in 2015 who would agree and Eddie has been consistent in saying that everyone has a role to play within the squad and the value he adds to the squad translates into the performance at the weekend. That is what I am on about because we now know where we are as a squad.”
Good news for England about Mako Vunipola, but less so about uncapped winger Ruaridh McConnochie https://t.co/CWa0CBcphu
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) August 16, 2019
With England opting to take just two scrum-halves to the World Cup, Ford is the emergency option and could even get time in the role – depending on the state of the game – in Cardiff.
He is not fazed by the challenge and believes England forwards would take more notice of his demands if he was issuing them much closer to the action.
Ford at No9 would be just one of the personal challenges Jones wants to set his players and the Leicester outside half understands the reasoning.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B1MCAFSIljo/
He added: “Even when I have trained at No9 in sessions he [Jones] has not come up to me beforehand and said I would be doing a bit of nine. You just have to adapt and that is a good place to be as a player – being able to adapt.
“If you can do a really a good job of it then it can only make you a better player. Also, it allows you an appreciation of what a nine’s job is with me being a 10 and what I expect and want off a scrum-half and then you are in that position. Owen (Farrell) might be demanding, so I had better give him the ball!”
WATCH: George Ford speaking at the England team announcement media conference
Comments on RugbyPass
Je suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
25 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
25 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
25 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
25 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
11 Go to comments