'There are bigger things that are more critical than us playing in a rugby game'
George Ford says the importance of rugby has been put into perspective by the coronavirus outbreak that has forced the postponement of England’s Guinness Six Nations clash with Italy.
Tournament organisers are searching for a new date to stage the Stadio Olimpico showdown, which was due to be held on March 14 but has been pushed back until later in the year rather than being played behind closed doors.
England’s penultimate-round fixture against Wales at Twickenham on Saturday is unaffected and is now potentially the senior squad’s last outing until they gather for the autumn series. Ford recalls the impact Super Typhoon Hagibis had on last autumn’s World Cup as covid-19’s spread causes chaos of a different nature.
“When we were in Japan there was the typhoon… there are bigger things that are more critical than us playing in a rugby game,” he said. “There are important things other than playing against Wales. You speak about family all the time and there are things that happen in your life all the time.”
Ford says coronavirus has caused minimal disruption to England’s preparations for Wales’ visit to south west London. “It’s been a completely normal week. We went out for food together on Wednesday night,” the Leicester fly-half said.
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Episode four of The Breakdown
“In terms of hygiene, not much has changed because we want to be pretty red hot on that anyway. It’s just reminders more than anything to keep good habits around camp. It’s hard to believe, but we’re genuinely just concentrating on the game on Saturday first and foremost. It will be a tough enough challenge as it is.”
Eddie Jones echoes Ford’s view by claiming England’s only aim is to topple their old rivals while tuning out the turmoil that has engulfed the Six Nations and other sports amid mounting concerns over public health. “The only thing I’m focused on is Wales. There’s going to be 82,000 people yelling and screaming, knowing we’re going to play a really tough, positive game of rugby,” Jones said.
“We’ve probably had our best training run of the Six Nations. We’re not far underneath where we were at the World Cup now in terms of physical condition and the intensity we can potentially play with.”
Jones has targeted Saturday’s showdown for England to peak in the 2020 Six Nations and the Australian has a score to settle. A year ago England were powering towards the Grand Slam as they followed up emphatic victories over Ireland and France by building a 10-3 half-time lead in Cardiff that eventually spiralled into a 21-13 defeat.
Wales went on to be crowned champions and the setback at the Principality Stadium still rankles ahead of Wayne Pivac’s first visit to Twickenham since replacing Warren Gatland in November. “You never like to lose to Wales – and we lost last year. We were in the position we were in at half-time and we’ve learned from that,” said Jones, who steered England into the Yokohama final where they lost 32-12 to South Africa.
“That was one of the key games that got us in our best condition for the World Cup. It’s still a game that I’m sure irks every player who played in it. It certainly irks me. You’ve got to remember they beat us last year, so we owe them one. England-Wales games are a little bit different. They go down to the wire.”
The postponement of Italy means England could be saying goodbye to two stalwarts on Saturday – George Kruis, who is weighing up an option from Japanese club rugby, and Leicester-bound assistant coach Steve Borthwick.
“George is fantastic. Great team man, great work rate. Couldn’t ask for a bloke who plays tougher for the team,” Jones said. “Steve’s been an unbelievable servant for English rugby. He’s done a great job for the team for the last five years. He’s going to turn out to be an outstanding coach.”
– Press Association
WATCH: Wayne Pivac sets the scene ahead of Wales’ visit to Twickenham
Comments on RugbyPass
Just came back from the game and the atmosphere was amazing. Players stayed afterwards for more than a hour to sign stuff and take photos with fans. Great day out.
4 Go to commentsA great game. The Sharks without Etsebeth are a shadow of the team compared to when he plays. The limitations of Some of the expensive Sharks players are being exposed. Credit to Clermont for some exhilaration play at times.
4 Go to comments100% Mr Owens. But who would want to be a referee.? It must be the most difficult job on earth.
1 Go to commentsStarts to be overdone and oversold this systematic SA narrative…which nevertheless has the merit in this case to recognise blatant refereeing mistakes in their favor
4 Go to commentsNice article. Shades of Steinbeck. They can win the final if they take the game seriously; but only if they take it seriously.
4 Go to commentsWhat a sad way to end a glittering career. Somebody should tell him to delete his social media accounts and face the consequences of what he's done. Then he should slip away quietly into obscurity. This isn't likely to happen, something tells me he'll be back in The Sun / Daily Mail sooner rather than later.
3 Go to commentsguys its fine! he understands why he did what he did and has taken accountability for it; why should he have to be accountable to a court? after all he did was abuse people in person - its not as if he was engaging in _online_ abuse!
3 Go to commentsChiefs flanker Kaylum Boshier yellow-carded for collapsing the scrum as it rolled towards the line. It was a maul….
1 Go to commentsyou know, i’m a leinster fan so I want Northampton to lose and it is gonna be tuff with Cortney lawes, Alex michell and the other guys🏉 lets go leinster🏉
1 Go to commentsWelcome to the Pro ranks. Those hard teams of old do hit the sole better though. its a dog fight at the top.
6 Go to commentsCan someone fill me in please, I've read a number of Ben Smith articles now and it seems he's got something again South Africa? Surely, this game was over and done with 7 months ago. Can't we have something a bit more interesting and relevant, or is this the calibre of journalist on this site?
228 Go to commentsNot sure what the Welsh are moaning about. They’ve had far more players off England, than England have had off Wales. Guys like Josh Hathaway and Kane James will play for Wales in the end. And they’ll be fsr better players for having played in the Gallagher Premiership, than they ever would have been had they stayed mired in the shambles that is Welsh rugby.
4 Go to commentsThis is all being blown totally out of proportion. First of all, since half the Irish team isn’t Irish - it’s very likely that none of the Irish players said that at all and, thus, we’re not being arrogant. Second, since half the Irish team is Kiwi - it’s very likely the Kiwi players were predicting a NZ SA World Cup final. Which they got spot on. Good on them!
163 Go to commentsAha. An Irishman with logic! Follow the flow: - Ireland peaks with a >80% win record between 2020 and 2023. And then… - crashes out of another QF at the WC; - Beat a poor French Team; - Beat 6N wooden spoonists Italy; - Play shite against eventual wooden spoonists Wales; - Lose against the most boring, “the worst English team ever” , a team widely regarded as unable to attack; - scrape through against Scotland. This article, No - Trimble, is on the money! Except for one glaring statement: _The Springboks have a few aces in the hole in this debate being the reigning world champions and official world number ones_ There is no debate, boys and girls. There it is. In black and white. “Reigning World Champions and OFFICIAL world number ones”. Come July, the overrated Andy Farrell and this overhyped team are going to enter into a world of hurt.
87 Go to commentsI’d like to know what homoerotic events Daniel enjoyed at 8th man. I clearly missed out!
19 Go to commentsThis article is missing some detail, like some actual context or info about what led to him abusing the ref.
2 Go to comments*They used to say that football is a gentleman sport watched by hooligans and rugby is a hooligan sport watched by gentlemen. How times have changed.*
3 Go to commentsexcept ot wasnt late wasnt late at all so dont know why you all saying its late he commits early and its your fault fir not paying attention
30 Go to commentsNot sure the Bulls need another average utility back in their ranks. Chamberlain has been ok for the Sharks but is by no means an X-Factor player. Bulls bought several utility backs which they barely use. A typical example would be Henry Immelman who plays mostly Fullback. The Bulls however have rarely played him this year and he has played wing or centre. Bulls want to build depth but seems like they have too many surplus players
1 Go to commentsABs lost against a side playing without a hooker - The guy playing, had one shoulder. Line outs were a gimme for the ABs, and the last 8 minutes 14 played 14 against a team that had been smashed 3 weeks in a row… Yet with all that possession, with all that territory, with all the advantages they actually had, especially in the last 8 minutes, they couldn’t buy a point. Those last 8 minutes determined if they outplayed the Boks or not. History will show that the Boks completely outplayed the ABs, especially in those last 8 minutes, the business end of any rugby match
228 Go to comments