SIR CLIVE WOODWARD’S VERDICT
The World Cup is just over two weeks old and from what I have seen so far the only team capable of beating holders and favourites New Zealand is england.
The pools aren’t fully played out yet but I’m seeing england, New Zealand, Wales and South Africa as the four semi-finalists and if my crystal ball gazing is correct that would mean a semifinal between england and the All Blacks.
For that to happen though england must beat France in their final pool game on Saturday, even though that game could be seen as a dead rubber with both sides already through to the quarter-finals a week early.
Losing would nonetheless be a huge momentum shifter. It has the potential to slow england and sow seeds of doubt. The pressure would crank up, people might get twitchy and everything would look more problematical.
If england did lose they would be more vulnerable in their quarter-final which would be against a buoyant Wales. As the statisticians keep telling us, no World Cup winning side has ever lost a pool game.
Records are made for breaking and statistics can be misleading but I would suggest that it is a pretty strong pattern that needs to be acknowledged.
I don’t see england losing, in fact I am confident they will put France away in considerable style, but if I was in eddie Jones’s shoes this week I would be painting the match as a do or die game of the e utmost importance. Because it is.
england must use this game to really lay down a marker. They need to take their game up a notch or two. Their path to the quarterfinals rrd has been pretty straightforward and undemanding.
The signs are good. england have been dominant up front in n all three games and the knock-on n effect of that is we are seeing the e best of George Ford at fly-half.
The question always asked of Ford is how effective can he be e behind a struggling pack, playing g on the back foot. Well in this s england team that question is academic because I don’t see any opposition pack bullying them.
Ford is getting front-foot ball and very smooth service and that brings out the best in him. he has been controlling the games nicely and has clearly benefitted from the trust and faith eddie is showing in him.
It has been a difficult couple of years for Ford. For a long while the Danny Cipriani bandwagon was rolling and there was a perception that Ford was under threat from that quarter.
And then eddie decided he wanted Owen Farrell as his starting fly-half. It must have been a testing period for Ford’s self-confidence and he has also moved back to Leicester, who have been struggling a little. But then the tide turned. eddie made it clear earlier this year that he was not seriously considering Cipriani as an option and that he was also inclined to move back to the old Ford/Farrell combo at 10 and 12.
More than that, eddie has also asked Ford to captain the side on a number of occasions. As a vote of confidence it couldn’t have been more emphatic. he is england’s first- choice 10 and is again beginning to show why.
he combines well with Farrell, they offer a twin threat and the return to form and fitness of Manu Tuilagi also helps. england — and Ford — now have so many attacking options in midfield
elsewhere, with the exception of a slight worry over Billy Vunipola, the squad is fit and available, just about everybody has enjoyed some good gametime and the basics are in place: scrum, lineout and restarts — not that england have had much practice chasing their own restarts because the opposition haven’t been scoring very often.
The front five are looking as good as any in the tournament and england have real strength in depth in that area, where the attrition rate can be high.
And england have been keeping the penalty count down and not irritating referees. That needs to continue!