Ford must find his swagger to tee up the Slam

AFTER three middling performances in the Six Nations so far, England are due a ‘big one’ and I’m confident Eddie Jones and his team will deliver something pretty special next Saturday to beat a resurgent Scotland at Twickenham and set up a tilt at a second successive Grand Slam.

England have not really fired properly in this Championship yet. They played well at key moments to dig themselves out of a hole against France and Wales and that strange Italy game counted for very little in trying to assess the form and potential of this team.

Now England really need to engage top gear because that is what will be required to deal with the Scots. And if they are going to pull off another Grand Slam, they need to travel to Dublin with the momentum of a great win so they can hit town with a bit of swagger. Dublin is not a great place to play if you are short on confidence and suffering any self-doubt.

If England do put the Scots away — as I expect — they will be very keen to see Ireland beat Wales in Cardiff. As was the case in 2003, when both England and Ireland were going for the Grand Slam in the final game of the tournament, we were delighted that Ireland found themselves under the same pressure as us.

They also had a Grand Slam and Championship at stake and the expectation of a country on their shoulders. They did not just have a free pot at us, a chance to make mischief and rip into England with no consequences and comeback. There was something very tangible at stake.

This time around, Ireland cannot win the Grand Slam but if they beat Wales they can definitely secure the title in a winner-takes-all game against England. I believe it could be very tight in Wales and would by no means rule out an angry Welsh side bouncing back from Murrayfield with a win.

Against Scotland, I am sure England will remain unchanged up front, barring injuries, but there is still some potential for fine-tuning the back division. England must pick their team for this game as if it is a World Cup final, with the strongest, most potent combination they can put on the park — and I’m not sure we have seen that yet.

What I call the ‘back four’ is still the issue. Owen Farrell is nailed on at 12 despite a very rare scruffy game last week against Italy, but it is what happens outside Farrell that England need to look at.

I do not see Ben Te’o getting the start at 13 at present so that means either the return of Jonathan Joseph or, my preferred option, switching Elliot Daly. My first-choice wings are Jack Nowell and Anthony Watson but England have so much talent in the back three they should not rule out Watson starting at full-back ahead of Mike Brown. If that were the case, Daly would then stay on the wing. England have the potential to start really scaring teams out wide.

Some of the team, possibly the majority, will know they have not done themselves justice yet. They will be feeling slightly uneasy about that with the Lions tour so close.

Included in that category is probably George Ford, whose battle with Finn Russell provides a fascinating subplot to what could be a cracking game. This is probably the shootout for the reserve spot at 10 in the Lions squad. I see Johnny Sexton as the starter, if Farrell plays 12, while there is also a good chance that Warren Gatland is looking at Farrell at No10 as well.

Apart from their all-round skill set, both Sexton and Farrell share a physicality which will be needed in New Zealand. That duo are the first choices in the position, which effectively leaves one vacancy to be filled in the squad.

Russell is having a good tournament. He is an attacking off-the-cuff player and, when he plays well, Scotland play well. He enjoys a bit of chaos and broken play and I am particularly enjoying the quality of his passes. His long, fired flat miss-passes are a joy.

Ford has not been at his best so far but is not playing badly. He is a dangerous attacking runner in his own right who is happy to run back into traffic and link with fast forwards on his shoulder. That is not England’s style at present but, rather like England, he will find a way of exploding into action against the Scots.