SLADE SELECTION COULD PROVE TO BE MASTERSTROKE BY EDDIE

IF A coach is going to guide his side to World Cup glory, there will be big calls made along the way — and that’s exactly what Eddie Jones has done by dropping George Ford, moving Owen Farrell to fly-half and bringing in Henry Slade for tomorrow’s quarter-final against Australia. It is a massive talking point here in Japan — and back home too, I suspect! Last week I argued that Eddie should retain the status quo of the Ford-Farrell combo, especially as Ford has probably been England’s best back at this World Cup. He is in the groove and playing with confidence. The switch tomorrow could be a masterstroke, though. When I look at the composition of the side Eddie has picked, I see a fantastic line-up capable of winning the World Cup and most certainly a team who can win well against the Aussies. The biggest factor here is that only Eddie and his backroom staff will have known that Slade is fit and good to start after his injury problems. His limited game-time and strapped knee led me to assume that he wasn’t quite there yet. Slade at 100 per cent, however, changes the equation significantly because Eddie now

has the option of picking a midfield of Farrell-Tuilagi-Slade that took Ireland apart in February. That startling win in Dublin against the then Grand Slam champions was unquestionably the best of Eddie’s four seasons in charge. The Farrell-Tuilagi-Slade combination will have been at the forefront of his thinking once Slade became available to start. The Dublin win was world class in every respect and now, in the most important game of his career since the 2003 World Cup final, Eddie has instinctively gone back to that core line-up. He has also stated Ford will finish the match against Australia. He is not merely an option off the bench, Ford will take control from fly-half in the final segment of the match. Eddie has a specific plan here. From the moment England’s match against France was cancelled and Australia were confirmed as quarter-final opponents, that option became more and more attractive, simply because of the way Australia play. Their midfield has been a mess. Their half-back combination tomorrow will be their sixth different line-up in the last six games. But the one constant, their main — if limited — tactic, has been for big Samu Kerevi to blast up through the 10-12 channel. That being the case, you can see the attraction of putting the hugely physical Farrell at 10 for the first part of the match. Then, later in the game, when hopefully England’s pack are on top, you bring Ford on at 10 and move Farrell to 12 as England look to use the spaces and open up against a tiring defence. It could be a masterstroke and it’s a tried and tested formula for Jones. Now, if you want to consider a really risky selection in contrast, how about Michael Cheika bringing in 19-year-old wing/full-back Jordan Petaia at centre? Everybody talks highly of Petaia’s potential but that really is a radical roll of the dice. Eddie has made other big, but carefully considered calls. Mako Vunipola has been operating under a fitness cloud because of his long-term hamstring problems dating back to the European Cup final. Again, only England will know if Mako is truly match fit, but they have decided he is, so it is logical to start the big man with the in-form Joe Marler poised to come on when needed. Courtney Lawes in for George Kruis is another massive selection call, but both are great players, so there is no element of risk. I notice that Eddie is using the words ‘brutal’ and ‘brutality’ a lot in the build-up and there’s the clue. It’s going to be very physical, particularly in the opening exchanges and a couple of trademark Lawes tackles could put England firmly on the front foot. One of the characteristics of Lawes’ tackling is that more than most big men, he is textbook and low — he goes for the legs or the midriff as he cuts down the opposition in their tracks. That is key. He is one of the biggest hitters in the game and one of the fairest. It’s going to be fiery and volatile tomorrow and the only thing that can seriously derail England is if they get caught up in that, lose their heads and find themselves with a couple of players in the bin. An early red card would be disastrous. Make no mistake, this is a very good team — if they can individually and collectively play under the pressure of the occasion, I can see nothing but an England win.