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The Ford, Farrell verdict on England reviving their old 10/12 combo
George Ford and Owen Farrell have spoken about being reunited in the same starting England team for the first time since March 2021. Steve Borthwick has decided that this Saturday’s Rugby World Cup pool match versus Samoa in Lillie – eight days before they will play a quarter-final in Marseille against most likely Fiji – is the perfect opportunity to revive the 10/12 partnership that took their country all the way to the final at Japan 2019.
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Both players have had spells out of the game through injury since the Guinness Six Nations loss to Ireland in Dublin two and a half years ago, while the emergence of Marcus Smith in the final year of the Eddie Jones era was also a factor in the old 10/12 alliance not getting a run.
However, having played the closing 30 minutes of the September 23 pool match versus Chile with Ford coming off the bench to play at out-half and Farrell switching out from No10 to his inside centre position, Borthwick has now decided to use this throwback partnership from the start at Stade Mauroy.
In a further nod to times past, the head coach has also named Manu Tuilagi at outside centre, so this Saturday will be the first time since the March 2020 Six Nations fixture against Wales in London that Ford, Farell and Tuilagi will take the field as England’s starting 10, 12, 13 combination.
After naming a starting England XV that showed 14 changes from the last day with Farrell the only retained starter, Borthwick said: “It’s an opportunity this week for the first time in a while playing George Ford and Owen Farrell together at 10 and 12 and I am excited to see that partnership goes together.”
It was only in August, after Farrell got caught up in red card trouble, that Ford started his first Test match since March 2021. But he has since had official player of the match performances versus Argentina and Japan at the World Cup and he spoke in Lille on Thursday night about his delight at now being named at out-half versus Samoa with Farrell playing at No12.
“It’s something we are excited about,” he enthused. “We have done it many times before and had some real success with it in the past so it’s great. Owen is a great leader for us, he’s another voice in terms of when we want to move the ball, distribute the ball which hopefully leads to some try-scoring opportunities at the weekend.
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“Overall, we are all massively excited. The way the week has gone and the way the backline has been it has been very, very positive and we are looking forward to showing that at the weekend.
“We both play 10 for our clubs. I have had a period of time out of the game but in terms of the understanding of the game and the way we want to try and work together as a part of the backline, as part of the team, probably hasn’t changed that much.
“We just want to do whatever the best thing is for the team at that time and it’s probably a little bit irrelevant what number we have got on our backs, to be honest with you. We want to be the best version of ourselves in a great team playing well. That is what we will endeavour to do.”
Farrell was happy with the prospect of starting a Test alongside Ford after such a long gap. “This week felt good is what I will say, this week on the training field felt good. I’m obviously pretty close to George anyway, we speak about everything rugby-wise regardless of what the team is. We are on the same page.
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“I’m looking forward to it. People talk about the amount of times we have played together before but not for a while. We’d both hope we have kicked on since we last played together so hopefully we will show that at the weekend.
“We have done everything we need to. As I said, we are pretty much like that anyway. We’d watch training back together at times, we’d talk about anything that we feel has happened in training or the team needs or anything and the work between us comes up in that and that not just there, there are other people around us as well.
“George has had a great partnership with Alex (Mitchell, scrum-half) so far and I’m looking forward to playing with Manu again as well, so there is a lot more than just that single partnership that you are talking about when it comes to team performance this weekend.”
Borthwick confirmed that Farrell will be on goal-kicking duties versus Samoa, a responsibility that should see him surpass Jonny Wilkinson as the all-time England record points scorer. Farrell needs just two points to go past Wilkinson’s tally of 1,179.
“I haven’t given it too much thought,” said Farrell about the impending record. “It’s not something that you like to think about too much before anything is done. My sole concentration is on the game at the weekend and preparing for what is a massive test against Samoa.
“The one thing I will say is it has been honour to have the chance to play for England as much as I have. To be in the vicinity of that record, to be able to play with this group of players and all the players I have played with before and staff, the one thing I would say is it has been an honour so far.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Boks are lucky to have a player of the calibre of PSDT in their ranks😍
7 Go to commentsI really like what the boks have done with bringing Vermeulen into their coaching setup. Perhaps they would have gone to france anyway, but Lawes and Farrell could at least have been offered assistant coaching roles. Lawes could probably aptly fill the brief (breakdown, contact skills, and handling) just given to Strawbridge; and Farrell could be a pretty good like for like replacement for Sinfield when he leaves. I probably wouldn’t want them in the national team set up just yet, but it would be good to see strings pulled to either get May, Youngs, Cole, & Care player-coaching roles in the premiership, or to move them into the under 20s coaching staff.
1 Go to commentsSo spiteful that the Springboks won again, they just had to change the laws so that they would stand a chance.
40 Go to commentsWhy would Eben lie? The guy has achieved so much. He saw it as arrogance. Any normal person who plays against the ABs year in and year out would have the same thoughts. Why even talk about the final when you have the biggest game of your lives next week in a stage you have never gotten passed? Rugly is simple in SA. Have fun but the most important thing is respect. I’m not buying any of this misinterpreted nonsense. Eben isn’t English, but no one during that interview was asking what did he say? He's speaking and therefore his understanding is perfectly fine. It was an arrogant thing to say, esp for a team that has never been to a final, never mind a semi. You guys up north can interpret it in a different way if you wish, maybe that s why you don’t win the biggest tournaments.
151 Go to comments> with Sky TV in New Zealand saying it has seen an 11 per cent lift in overall viewership this year. It’s easy for these kiwi “journalists” to throw around meaningless numbers to make it seem that things are improving, but if you look at the stats behind this 11 percent it says that after 10 rounds of rugby there is only a paltry 160k cumulative viewers in total.. That is on average 16k viewers watching a single round of Super Rugby. I very much doubt any of the other numbers that Gregor so proudly “reports” on.
37 Go to commentsGoode is a Prop that played Flyhalf…. Who gives a Sh@#t what he thinks anyway!
151 Go to commentsOne would hope when a player of such caliber is approached for transfer is traversed a lot more carefully. The question I ask, “is the players agent raising red flags in the first instance of contact”. By what I read assumptions are made by nzr based on player welfare provided to them. So what is that? Is it a wholistic approach where family balance is taken into account. Because thay’s what’s in the mix when players go off shore. I realize the money is a huge factor but when negotiations are initiated is nzr involved. As Lendrum says having our best players available is paramount to our success So here’s hoping they are effectively communicating.
4 Go to commentsPSTD, I salute you.
7 Go to commentsWhy don't they just give up on scrums and lineouts, cut the number of players to 13, and call the game ‘rugby league’? These idiots are determined to destroy the game as we know it, and instead of ‘attracting youngsters to the game’ as Beaumont suggests, it’ll deter a lot of the less skilled, maybe overweight kids who it is perfect for. World Rugby is detestable. And as for the 20 minute ‘red’ - why not teach the players to tackle better? (Like the current tackle height trials are supposed to do, but will probably be squashed by the NZRU as usual). I despair for the union game, I really do.
40 Go to commentsHere’s hoping the emphasis on how the tmo interfaces on game infractions is taken into account more seriously than what was adjudicated during the 23 wc. That was a shambles, plus Barnes the abs ref never contested some of the calls, something he’s known for. And then we're left with wr opologizing after the game that smith’s try was legit. I was even more pizzed. And as for the red card if the infringement is clearly intentional foul then the individual is out of the game and after 20mins the bench replacement comes on. So, there’s then the degree of seriousness taken into account within the 20min stand down.
37 Go to commentsNot sure they the article doesn’t hit on TMO this year, that’s were they were putting focus right. The fact the other areas haven’t improved shows just how poor the comp is at focusing on its direction. There should still have been further gains in both those areas this year even it if didn’t have the same focus as others. The whistle to restart time, like touch finders of 26 seconds, surely has to be a key focus area next year. Why should a side be given so much time to kick for touch? Cut that down to 5 or 10 seconds, penalties both become less of key stalling/defensive strategy, and become more ‘live’ with tap kicks becoming much more favourable quick actions. Theres absolutely no reason we have to wait over 10 secs for the preferred kicker to walk up and try and take maximum advantage, especially when half the time its just a delay tactic to give the forwards time to plan, as the kicker hardly even trys to find the corner with his kick, anyone could have kicked it straight out for the lineout.
37 Go to commentsShame. Hope something else can be arranged.
3 Go to commentsTitans of under-20s rugby …. Reporters tired verbiage akin to calling every player a “star” and any Fijian side as ”Flying”. The French English and Irish are the Titans of U20 rugby. Noone in the South is now. This tournament is however, good prep to regain titan status.
1 Go to commentsWill be humbling coming back and playing second fiddle to Dmac.
4 Go to commentsSounds like quite a bit of development has occurred regarding Mo’unga’s situation. Either NZR has stepped up their offer (big time) or RMo has had a reality check on what it will be like to be outside of the high performance environment of AB rugby. Maybe both. It reads like there are only a few remaining details to be sorted out before it is a done deal.
4 Go to commentsCurrently, a prop that has been substituted can go back on field if his original replacement gets injured. Can a red carded prop go back if his replacement gets injured, or will it be uncontested scrums?
13 Go to commentsWhat about a free kick from a scrum? Can you call another scrum? Or are they just giving straight penalties now?
40 Go to commentsLoved that comment by Andrew that the ‘water boys’ rule was changed in 2020 just to stymie the Boks!
40 Go to commentsOne of the best the Boks have ever produced. PSDT has an engine that goes non-stop for the full 80 min.
7 Go to commentsThe real deal.
7 Go to comments