THEFAZ SHOW

Farrell is back at 10 with instructions to worry about own his game rather than his team-mates as Jones axes Ford to give England some extra midfield muscle

JUST like the 2015 World Cup, Owen Farrell has been restored to the fly-half throne for England’s biggest game.

This time, though, his promotion has come with orders from on high to be more player and less captain.

Eddie Jones’ decision to bench a “disappointed” George Ford for tomorrow’s quarter-final showdown against Australia caused surprise.

Ford has caught the eye at No.10 in this tournament and has started six of England’s last seven Tests.

There is also the not inconsiderable matter of Farrell having yet to produce his best in Japan. His performance last time out was described as “very clunky” by attack coach Scott W isemantel.

But Jones chose to label his skipper a “warrior”, which is the description others might use at this stage of a campaign where he has taken two redcard shots to his head.

The Red Rose coach then revealed he had sat down with Farrell and told him to focus more on himself than on worrying about the rest of the team.

Jones said: “I feel like some times, earlier in the tournament, Owen spent too much time in the captaincy area and not enough on his own individual prep.

“As captain and goalkicker, he’s got quite a big job for us. The responsibility of being captain at a World Cup is much larger than normal Test matches.

“You’re bringing a group of 31 players together for eight or nine weeks, and he’s the father of that group, so to speak.

“As you go on as a captain, you learn how to get the balance right.

But the ability to delegate, to know what to say to players, is a challenging experience for a young guy like him.

“We’ve had a chat about it and I’ve seen a real change in that this week.”

Farrell, 28, accepts that delivering a performance is a “big part” of leadership.

“I think Eddie’s just checking on me,” he said. “Making sure I’m not getting caught up in other things.”

Farrell’s selection is part of a bigger tactical shift, even if the focus yesterday was on the fact Ford, 26, was also demoted from England’s two big matches at the last World Cup – both of which they lost.

The reshuffle allows Manu Tuilagi to move further infield and Henry Slade to come in for his first England start since March.

This was the 10-12-13 combination that did such damage to Grand Slam holders Ireland, in Dublin back in February, and Jones clearly wants to see a repeat.

“Samu Kerevi is a damaging ball-carrier for them,” he said. “We need to defend with brutality and, when we have the ball, we need play on top of them.”

Alongside Kerevi, the Wallabies have chosen to pick 19-year-old Jordan Petaia, and Jones wasted no time in exerting a bit of pressure on the rookie.

“I’ve seen enough of him to know he can play a bit, but it’s going to be a big occasion for the boy,” he added.

“He’s playing a quarter-final in front of 40,000 people, where you know that you don’t get another day.

“This is the day and, for a young player, you can either rise to the occasion or you can find it difficult.”