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The post-game 'joking' George Ford was doing with Owen Farrell
By Liam Heagney
It’s been quite an unexpected month’s exposure for George Ford, getting to start four straight matches as the England No10 two and a half years on from his previous Test-level start.
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Suspension for Owen Farrell was the catalyst for his return to prominence, Ford enjoying successive outings at out-half versus Ireland and Fiji in the Summer Nations Series and then on to the Rugby World Cup with performances against Argentina and Japan deemed man of the match efforts by the tournament’s sponsors.
Now, though, comes a few weeks of intrigue with Farrell available for selection again and a decision ultimately must be taken by head coach Steve Borthwick about who he wants in the No10 shirt on quarter-finals weekend in Marseille on October 14.
“We’re delighted his ban is over,” quipped Ford about Farrell following Sunday night’s 34-12 win over Japan in Nice. “I was just joking with him after the game there because he has not been allowed on the field.
“After that game, he is officially allowed back on the field. We’re delighted to have him back. You can imagine what he has been like anyway in training and the influence he is having, the influence he has had on the team in the past.
“Me, Owen and Marcus (Smith) as 10s, we are doing our utmost to drive this team forward. Steve will make the selections to win the games and we will buy into that.”
England’s blunt effort versus the Japanese was widely criticised, nowhere more vocally than at the stadium where their fans loudly booed them for repeatedly kicking away at a time early in the second half when the result was still up for grabs.
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Ford, though, sounded like he didn’t care much about how England play, that the only item on his agenda is winning and with the team two wins from two at the halfway stage in their pool, that was all that mattered to him.
“We’re here to win games, aren’t we? That’s our job. We’re here to win Test matches and we want to make every England fan proud, of course we do. We understand the sacrifice and the commitment that they make to come and support us and we value that so highly, we do.
“But we want to be a winning team and we want them to be proud of a winning team as well so that would be my message to them. We are going to put everything into it to win games to make them proud.
“I thought we did some good stuff… we moved the ball well at times. There was a lot of let’s get into the opposition half and let’s get good field position but that was the right thing to do.
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“We scored four tries and it was a tough game, Japan caused us many problems but we’re two from two so we want to build a bit of momentum.
“Their [Japan’s] tactical plan caused us a few problems, especially with their attacking kicks and the way they tried to manipulate our defence a little bit.
“They defended very well as well but I’m proud of the way our boys stuck to our plan. We had a good idea it wouldn’t be until the third or fourth quarter to pull away a little bit so the belief and the discipline to do that was great.
“Congratulations and fair play to Japan because the skill, the commitment, the never-give-up attitude is incredible, isn’t it? It’s admirable really, it’s really enjoyable to play against teams like Japan and you know you are in for a proper Test match.”
Handling errors were a regular momentum killer for England in the near 80 per cent humidity. “You have got to understand how difficult it was out there,” insisted Ford.
“It’s actually more difficult than if it was throwing it down because of the grease and the sweat on the ball, we have our best intentions and I thought we did move the ball at the right times and caused some problems.
“But the best way to win Test matches, especially in those conditions, is to make smart decisions, to win field position and then try and be clinical when the clear and obvious opportunities come.
“We are probably going to look back on some of the decisions and say we could have done that better, of course we would, but more often than not I think we got it right.
“The last two games it’s like a bar of soap that ball at times. It doesn’t say you don’t want to have the intent to move it and score tries.
“Of course we want to have that and we need to be good when we do that. but the main thing is building pressure, getting field position and doing the best thing to win the game.”
For me we need to win 1st then entertain seem to remember been down this road before no good being entertaining and loosing at least defence scrum and line out are better.