ADULT CHAT LINE
As George Ford leads England on his 50th cap, dad Mike is trying to steer Germany – YES GERMANY! – into the World Cup finals
says it’s one of the greatest challenges he’s had as a coach and they’re coming off a brilliant result.”
That was last Sunday when Germany shocked top seeds Hong Kong in the four-team repechage tournament, from which the winners advance into the same pool as world champions New Zealand.
Asked if a proud Englishman was allowed to cheer Germany, Ford junior laughed: “They played in white, so it’s OK.” The 25-year-old told how he watched the game on his laptop as his body and mind recovered from England’s heartbreaking All Blacks defeat.
But he will wait to be told the result today as he focuses fully on trying to recapture the levels of performance England reached a week ago.
Against a side they would be expected to beat in their sleep that is a tall order, but boss Eddie Jones demanded they “smash” his former team. “It’s important to be tactically good,” said the Australian, who has made 11 changes yet knows better than anyone how dangerous a side Japan can be. “We want to play the game on our terms.”
The onus is on Ford to make that happen and, with Owen Farrell starting the previous two games in the No.10 shirt, he is not short on motivation. But he said: “While obviously you want to start, I’ve learned over the last two weeks that with Eddie it’s not a starters-vs-finishers thing. His team’s a squad of 23, not a 15 and if you deal with not starting a game by being frustrated or walking around kicking stones, you’re clearly not ready to come on and try to win it.” 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8