George Ford calls for England ‘to be better’ after France XV defeat despite ‘great positives’
England fly-half George Ford in action against France XV
England fly-half George Ford has called for his side ‘to be better’ after their dramatic 26-24 defeat to France XV at the Allianz Stadium, Twickenham.
Steve Borthwick’s side seemed in cruise control heading into the final 10 minutes of the match as they led 24-12, but two late tries – including an 82nd-minute winner – saw the visitors snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.
This uncapped friendly was England’s only warm-up game before their squad announcement tomorrow (Monday 23rd June).
George Ford calls for England to learn lessons after ‘disappointing’ result
While a defeat at home is never nice to take, especially in the circumstances this one game through, the 99-capped star is still wanting to look at how they can use it moving forward.
“Lots of positives to take, but a disappointing result,” Ford told members of the media. “We were 24-12 up; we need to be better to see that game out.
“It’ll be a positive to see how small margins at the back end of a game can decide Test matches, so hopefully we can take some good out of the bad.”
One positive that was clear to see was the new-look backline. Uncapped men Seb Atkinson and Joe Carpenter both looked in good form from the start, with the Gloucester centre unselfishly assisting the Sale Sharks full-back for his score on the stroke of half-time, while Oscar Beard also gave a strong performance off the bench.
“I enjoyed it (playing in the new-look backline),” said Ford. “It was a bit mix and match at times, Raffi (Quirke) ended up on the wing, Sladey (Henry Slade) was at full-back and Oscar (Beard) played a bit of centre and wing, but I suppose that’s the way Test matches go these days. You have to have some versatility in your backline and adapt on the go.
“We have some dangerous players. I thought the way Seb (Atkinson) attacked the game was great, the way Ben Spencer inside me controlled it brilliantly and (Tom) Roebuck was a threat on that right wing every time he got the ball in the air. There are some great positives.”
His partnership with Atkinson, though, was one of the highlights of the team performance, with the pair often interchanging at first receiver, but Ford still feels this will only improve with time.
“We’re trying to become as cohesive as possible,” he said. “There’s nothing like a real-life game to get real-life feedback. There’ll be plenty to watch from that game, which we’ll get better at.”
Despite the positives, he still feels the backline can take one step further heading into the Argentina series, outlining the key area they need to fix up.
“To be honest, I thought we could have got together more as a backline in phase play; we just seemed a little bit clunky at times, but we’ll look to get better at that. The more we can get together, put some plays on and throw some questions at the defence the better.”
