Bath fly-half George Ford pleased with England debut against Samoa
Monday 24 November 2014 11:37, UK
England’s George Ford was happy to take Samoa’s best shots but felt John Leota should not have been sin-binned for his tackle on the fly-half.
Ford turned in a good all-round performance on his full debut in the 29-9 win over Twickenham which brought an end to the national team’s five-game losing run.
The number 10 struck three penalties and two conversions and played with intelligence to provide the cutting edge that England have been missing.
He also met the physical challenge of a game against Samoa, but felt the most notable tackle on him – Leota’s high hit – should not have been punished in the way it was.
"I didn't feel too bad after that, which surprised me really. I just wanted to get back on my feet as quickly as possible," Ford said.
"It was a good hit, but I didn't think it was a yellow card. He read the play pretty well and fair deal, you just get on with it.
"Samoa are always going to be a little bit different because they are massive men who love the physicality battle. I wouldn't say it was enjoyable to take those hits but you've got do it."
Ford played a pivotal role in two of England's three tries, starting the move that created a hole for Jonny May to exploit before putting in a pinpoint cross-field kick to Anthony Watson, whose subsequent step and offload sent Mike Brown over.
It was a performance which suggests Ford is ready to be part of the squad for the Six Nations championship but the player himself feels he needs to improve some areas of his play.
"There were some aspects of the game that I was quite pleased with and some that I can definitely work on," Ford said.
"You always want to play and start for England, but it's up to the coaches to come up with a plan and come up with the team they think is best to beat Australia.
"Whether I'm involved in that or not, I'll back it 100 per cent because it is going to be a massive squad effort next week to beat them."
Ford’s inclusion presents a knock-on issue for head coach Stuart Lancaster, who played Owen Farrell at centre with mixed results.
Farrell combined well with Ford in attack but fell off a tackle and produced an aimless kick, and his place in the midfield would come under threat from more natural centres such as Billy Twelvetrees and Kyle Eastmond.
"There were definitely aspects out there that we had when we were growing up playing together. We were constantly talking, which was the main thing – talking about the game and how we could get better," Ford said.
"There were a couple of timing issues as a backline off first-phase plays, but there were some good ones - we scored a first-phase try and Jonny May finished it very well.
"Owen and I have had a few of those moments in our careers together. It was brilliant execution by Owen. He ran really straight."
