Reverting to Ford/Farrell can't be Eddie's Plan A - Andy Goode
Eddie Jones has named a virtually first choice side to face Ireland, from those in his squad who are fully fit and firing, but starting George Ford and Owen Farrell together again feels like a backward step.
The bottom line is I don’t think Farrell is suited to playing 12, especially as captain. He should be the fulcrum of the team and steering the ship from fly half rather than one step further away from the action.
He’s the type of character that you want to run everything and dominate a game and he can’t do that from inside centre, where there is a lot more hitting the ball up and making tackles. Farrell loves that but doing it does mean he often isn’t as influential.
They won the Grand Slam starting every game together in 2016 and then won the Six Nations again the following year so it’s clearly a combination that’s had success in the past but I don’t think it’s right for England now.
Ford is a very good fly half but he has gone missing in some of England’s major recent defeats, such as Ireland away in 2017 and then Scotland, France and South Africa away last year.
There’s every chance that he’ll produce an excellent attacking display today if he’s given some good front-foot ball but I think the past few years has told us that Farrell is England’s first choice fly half.
I hope the only reason they’re going back to starting the two of them together is because Henry Slade is still injured and Jonathan Joseph and Piers Francis have started both of the opening two warm-up games against Wales.
Eddie has said that he’s going to be trying things out this month in preparation for the World Cup but we’ve seen how this partnership works for almost four years between the end of 2014 and the South Africa tour last summer.
I’ve no doubt Farrell and Ford will be on the field in tandem at some point in Japan so it’s another chance for him to see how they go but I just hope it’s more of a plan for towards the end of games rather than something he’s going to revert to from the start.
This same issue has reared its head a few times in the past couple of years with Maro Itoje shunted to blindside flanker as well. It might be ok as a one-off out of necessity but as a general rule you have to pick your star men in their best positions.
Farrell revels in the responsibility of controlling games from fly half, leading the team from there and being able to be more dominant as a result. That’s where he plays his best rugby and by pushing him out to 12 I don’t think we’ll see the best of him.
It shouldn’t be necessary either with the centres we have and I think Manu Tuilagi and Henry Slade will be the first choice centre combination with Jonathan Joseph knocking on the door as well.
Perhaps today’s selection does show that the squad is a bit light in midfield, with Ben Te’o having been omitted, but that is with Slade missing and Jack Nowell is also out and he’s been utilised at 13 in the past as well.
England’s attack was pretty blunt in Cardiff last week so there is a chance that this is his solution to that but I just can’t see that it’s a World Cup winning formula.
It might be a more minor point as well but in some ways it’s also a bit of a risk to start them both together in the same team against a hugely physical and motivated Ireland side when they’re the only two fly halves named in the 31-man squad. A certain Danny Cipriani might be watching closely from afar, albeit obviously not for one second wishing injury on another player.
Away from the 10/12 channel, it’s exciting to see Tom Curry and Sam Underhill, or ‘the Kamikaze Kids’ as Eddie Jones has labelled them, starting alongside one another for the first time after injury meant it didn’t happen against Wales a couple of weeks ago.
He’s got to pick two from Curry, Underhill and Mark Wilson as his first choice flankers and we might see that the work rate and energy of these two youngsters in defence and at the breakdown allows Billy Vunipola to be even more effective than he is already.
All in all, we’ve seen a couple of performances that have lacked a bit of intensity from an understrength England side and an underwhelming performance from a second-string Ireland so far in August but both have gone full noise in this one so we should be in for a much better spectacle.
Today is a warm-up game and Eddie has plans for each one that he isn’t divulging to all of us but reverting to Ford and Farrell from the start in Japan can’t be a Plan A. If England have got any chance of winning the World Cup, it’s imperative Farrell starts at 10.
Comments on RugbyPass
A Turtle has more pace and leg drive than Owen Franks, so it’s a good thing he only had to run 90 metres for that try.
2 Go to commentsOh Tamati Tua was in the vastly over-rated Leon MacDonalds Blues system? Well, no wonder he was wasted, much like Emoni Narawa and Jacob Ratumaitavuki-Kneepkens under MacDonald. now look at them. Good thing Tua isn’t eligible, the Aussies latch on to any player who isn’t tied down.
2 Go to commentsMark Telea is a lot of things, but a defensive juggernaut has never been one of them. There will be far bigger tests in that regard for the youngster.
10 Go to commentsLove and respect to Fiji but not a chance outside of 7s
4 Go to commentsGood summation Ned. Agree the Canes were out-muscled for once (except at the scrum!) by a focused Brumbies outfit. Tua deserves consideration for higher honors after the way he humbled Jordie and the Canes defense. Thankfully, his lack of eligibility for Oz keeps him from Joe’s plans. While I also agree the injuries affected the Canes performance, some players seemed to lack focus and intensity for this match. Perhaps after the Blues demolished the Brumbies, they thought it was going to be easy? A good reminder that any slip up in preparation can have a big affect on the result. Brumbies deserved that win.
2 Go to commentsKarl Dixon should never have been appointed this fixture, absolute disgrace, He’s not much of a referee anyway, didn't have the balls to send his mate care off
5 Go to commentsBrilliant article! Harry of 8/9
1 Go to comments‘UK athletes' have been in the NFL from the start.
1 Go to commentsIt’s going to be Scott Barrett. He’s the coaches mate and captain of a previously elite team. Ardie a great option but scooter has worked with the coach and Ardie still as big a leader as needed.
23 Go to commentsI commend Colin Scotts bio All Balls. He was the first Aussie to make it to NFL. But he was poached and did a full apprenticeship at the University of Hawaii. He was 130kgs surfed played 1st grade cricket etc. big guy by normal but not NFL standards and a top athlete. Even then the nfl were picking up Tongans and Samoans for their natural size and explosive power. They want explosive power not cardio from the big boys so a guy like Taniela Tupou would have been good if picked up young enough. He has fast twitch and they’d bulk the little lad up and give him something to do. soccer teams set up academies and look for Over Sara’s talent eg Messi was at Barcelona since a teenager and harry kewell went to Leeds as a teenager like 16 or something.
11 Go to commentsThe article alludes to the fact that this isn’t about picking a captain. But picking a great captain. So who would make for a great All Black captain - not just an obvious or safe shoo-in? I’m not sure Ardie’s the guy and Barret doesn’t stand out either.
23 Go to commentsI guess we may all agree on the fact, that the ABs and Boks are the two in contest for No 1 in rugby history (the triple-A sort of) …. the Wallabies, England and France are the next tier, with Ireland being the new kid in town (AA) …. in my view it makes little sense creating imaginary competitions (unless you have too much time to waste)
45 Go to commentsWhat a joke. Total joke and the pundits commentating, all of whom know a bit about the game, could barely disguise their contempt. Reaching for the card then pulling back when he realised a red card would carry further match suspensions is simply not his decision to make. A clear and obvious influence on the outcome of this match and indeed, the championship path.
5 Go to commentsI like the idea, in NZ the Ranfurly Shield and NPC coexist, both having their own bragging rights. The World Cup would be the pinnacle, but the competition and travels of these trophies would be interesting.
45 Go to commentsDon’t worry Sonny bill Williams leave that awkward situation about the curfew in the pass whoever it was it doesn’t matter its no big deal we back our All Blacks through the storm and the thunder until we see the Sun light again.
42 Go to commentsWho listens to this retard? He was a massive liability as a player but obviously a media sensation
42 Go to commentsI’m not surprised by such ‘virtue signalling’ by Sonny Boy. Butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth. He’s such a pious Islamic muppet, imo.
42 Go to commentsI’ve actually never heard of the guy (then I don’t watch League as it is boring). But if he is good enough.. then good luck to him. If not, well, he can always return to league.
2 Go to commentsIt is pretty clear that by almost any measure that NZ are a more successful rugby nation than South Africa. Quite aside from the distasteful events during the last RWC final. NZ lead SA in all significant measurements.
45 Go to commentsDickson went to his pocket for a card, saw who it was, changed his mind and spoke at length to TMO. One angle clearly shows Care diving over a Saints player to kill the ball. 1st yellow, reason given for not Red was player was falling backwards. He was only falling backwards after contact with Lawes. Graham try should have stood. Mitchell did not have both hands on the ball, ball went forward from a Saints boot dragging over it. 2 intentional knock-on's. One of which had an overlap on the outside. If Quins are happy to win by intentional foul play, then it does not say much for them. Would appear to be a bad day for Karl Dickson, also for the RFU in appointing a Ref who spent 8 years as a player at one of the clubs.
5 Go to comments