Rugby Ford’s back on the bench for Autumn Nations Cup clash
GEORGE Ford will make his comeback from an Achilles injury after being named on the bench by England for tomorrow’s Autumn Nations Cup clash with Ireland at Twickenham.
Ford missed the recent wins over Italy and Georgia to undergo treatment on the long-standing issue and - having been restored to full fitness - head coach Eddie Jones has selected him as fly-half cover.
Owen Farrell continues as chief playmaker amid an unchanged backline following a 40-0 rout of Los Lelos that has placed England at the top of Group A with pivotal matches against Ireland and Wales to come. Powerful centre Ollie Lawrence is given another chance to bring ball-carrying muscle to the midfield alongside Henry Slade.
England have triumphed in their last three matches against Ireland with the two Six Nations encounters in 2019 and 2020 producing resounding wins. Ford appeared in all three, but is alert to the trap of reading too much into their successful sequence. Ford said: “The thing you know when you’re playing against Ireland is you’re going to be challenged. You’re coming up against quality opposition and you need to be right on it both from a mental point of view and a physical one too. That’s something that the leaders of this team and the organisation will never ever try to be complacent with because when you do that and you’re not quite there starting against a team like Ireland, you’re going to be in trouble.” England team to face Ireland in the Autumn Nations Cup at Twickenham on Saturday, November 21, 3pm KO: E Daly (Saracens); J Joseph (Bath Rugby), O Lawrence (Worcester Warriors), H Slade (Exeter Chiefs), J May (Gloucester Rugby); O Farrell (Saracens, capt), B Youngs (Leicester Tigers); M Vunipola (Saracens), J George (Saracens), K Sinckler (Bristol Bears), M Itoje (Saracens), J Launchbury (Wasps), T Curry (Sale Sharks), S Underhill (Bath Rugby), B Vunipola (Saracens).
Replacements: T Dunn (Bath Rugby), E Genge (Leicester Tigers), W Stuart (Bath Rugby), J Hill (Exeter Chiefs), B Earl (Bristol Bears), D Robson (Wasps), G Ford (Leicester Tigers), M Malins (Bristol Bears).