George Ford

[BigDan50]

What's the point of playing George Ford for England, he doesn't tackle, poor kicking from hand, makes no line breaks and just ships out passes, really rate him as a club player but he has gone backwards playing for England.
Time to play Farrell at fly half with Danny Care as scrum half as I think Care has had a great game today behind a disorganised pack.
Since George has been off the field England have looked a different side.

[Leicestertinytiger]

England’s biggest problem is the backrow. No balance and that means the backs get no quick ball to work with. With quick ball the Ford Farrell axis works much better. Harsh blaming Ford when the forwards can’t give him any decent ball.

Thought Cowan-Dickie, Sinckler and Haskell all looked better coming off the bench. Selection headaches now for Jones, all of his own making.

[RagingBull]

What's the point of playing George Ford for England, he doesn't tackle, poor kicking from hand, makes no line breaks and just ships out passes, really rate him as a club player but he has gone backwards playing for England.
Time to play Farrell at fly half with Danny Care as scrum half as I think Care has had a great game today behind a disorganised pack.
Since George has been off the field England have looked a different side.

Care was awful.
For a 9 he shows no control, and he did nothing till the final 20.

Blaming Ford would be like blaming one player for Tigers :censored: showing.

[Tiger_in_Birmingham]

England’s biggest problem is the backrow. No balance and that means the backs get no quick ball to work with. With quick ball the Ford Farrell axis works much better. Harsh blaming Ford when the forwards can’t give him any decent ball.

Thought Cowan-Dickie, Sinckler and Haskell all looked better coming off the bench. Selection headaches now for Jones, all of his own making.

Sinckler was great, Haskell adequate and Cowan-Dickie poor IMO.

England only had urgency for the last 10 minutes - and it was mainly Sinckler bringing it

[drc_007]

Very poor breakdown skills, don't know who coaches it for England but they should be sacked.

[Leicestertinytiger]

I like Simmonds, but seems to struggle against the bigger teams to make any impact. Also he has zero breakdown skills so find it hard to see how he fits into an England backrow. Didn’t seem to offer any go forwards for England.

Also think for Ireland Itoje should be dropped to the bench and Launchbury Lawes start in the second row.

[POSTIGER]

George is a real asset in a team on the front foot and a bit of a liability in a side on the back foot - simple. That, in my mind, is why he's a very very good FH but not world class. A world class FH can take the pressure off retreating forwards with a brilliant kick or a great break. GF is too easily negated imho.

[HantsTiger]

Very poor breakdown skills, don't know who coaches it for England but they should be sacked.

This in a nutshell.

We also have a very limited attack, and clearly run defined patterns all the time which doesn't allow Ford to take it to the line as much. Look how many times the support runners over-ran the ball carrier and the play became forced. We seem to run the move whether it's on or not!

[Ian Cant]

George will be fine. Not a time to knock players just when Tigers are getting back on track.
Strange though how a few weeks ago we thought the England players would return to boost morale- now they will be glad to be back in a team that has started to get some wins. Funny old game.
Finally, I thought Ford bravely tried to tackle those huge French lads and England looked tired: most likely due to Eddie Jones obsession with the players’ fitness !

[Hot_Charlie]

he doesn't tackle

Credibility of post summed up in 3 words.

[BigDan50]

Hot_Charlie, its no coincidence that tigers form has improved since Ford and to a lesser extent Ben Youngs have been away with England, to many tigers supporters look at our players with rose coloured glasses, George Ford is not a international player and nowhere near the standard of Farrell, I think we made the wrong decision by swapping Ford for Burns who when fit is a better fly half than Ford.

[wrightkyle91]

Is it a coincidence though that England look very much like tigers 3/4 weeks ago and Ford is in a key position? Since Toomua has taken over the backs and the forwards look far more comfortable.

IMHO when ford returns I don’t believe he warrants a starting place in a tigers shirt, he needs to win it back and his England performances are just a bad a his club performances and just don’t warrant that.

[jgriffin]

Hot_Charlie, its no coincidence that tigers form has improved since Ford and to a lesser extent Ben Youngs have been away with England, to many tigers supporters look at our players with rose coloured glasses, George Ford is not a international player and nowhere near the standard of Farrell, I think we made the wrong decision by swapping Ford for Burns who when fit is a better fly half than Ford.

While I don't agree that Ford isn't as good as Fred, what we did have was a wonderfully complementary set of 10s with Fred and OW. Fred is a livewire type who does the unexpected, which occasionally comes unstuck, OW the solid 10 with a boot that keeps the opposition playing out of their 22 or converts relieving penalties into 10m attacking lineouts. Horses for courses, so the HC has two defined strategies. Ford is a different beast, halfway between the two, To'omua a more complete all-round 10 than any of them. I would've loved to have Fred, OW and To'omua all available in our team.

[ellis9]

Hot_Charlie, its no coincidence that tigers form has improved since Ford and to a lesser extent Ben Youngs have been away with England, to many tigers supporters look at our players with rose coloured glasses, George Ford is not a international player and nowhere near the standard of Farrell, I think we made the wrong decision by swapping Ford for Burns who when fit is a better fly half than Ford.

100% disagree with everything in this post.

[Leicestertinytiger]

What a load of rubbish, Ford is class. With Toomua outside him at 12 and a pack now playing well we will see him shine. If Burns was so good then why would Priestland be staring over him at Bath and he would be in the England squad.

Only one fly half in the country who is hard done by by not being selected in the England squad and that’s Cipriaini, not Burns.