George Ford explains the England ‘mindset shift’ that is backed up by Six Nations stats
England fly-half George Ford in action against France.
Following a pulsating 33-31 defeat to France in the final round of the 2024 Six Nations, James While caught up with England playmaker George Ford to discuss both the campaign and his own personal style.
Mixed emotions
With England leading in the final minute it took a 46.3 metre penalty, the longest of the tournament, from Thomas Ramos to take the spoils.
Whilst disappointed with the end result, Ford was pleased with the performance overall and enjoyed the outing immensely, despite the loss.
“It was a brilliant game to play in,” he said. “Obviously we’re hugely disappointed with the result, as when you’re up with three or four minutes left like that you back yourself to see the game out, and we couldn’t manage to do that, so that’s the disappointing thing.
Then you reflect on the game a little bit; the points we did concede – one off the lineout, they fly-hack it, and the next minute they’re under your sticks.
“We weren’t quite good enough in those transition periods in that first half either, when we turned the ball over which gave them a few points. Even though I think we’ve taken a massive step forward in the last couple of weeks, it’s massively disappointing not to get over the line again.”
Change in approach
“Our mindset since Scotland in the last couple of weeks has been to really go at teams with ball in hand. Be a threat, ask questions, fire shots, be that attacking team, be on the front foot a lot more. I think you’ve seen that the last two weeks,” he continued.
“I know we keep saying it, but we see it day-in, day-out at training. Probably we haven’t put it on the field well enough until the last two games. The one thing we can take from the game is that mindset, and how big it has been for us, and the threat we can be when we are playing like that is enormous.
“We had to front that up after that game (at Murrayfield). We had to make a choice and it was off the back of that game when we had to have a few honest conversations about things and decide what team we want to be.”
🏴 George Ford has got flatter and flatter with his passing this Six Nations.
🔢 @sageuk #GuinnessM6N pic.twitter.com/FtHq2D3fMz
— Planet Rugby (@PlanetRugby) March 17, 2024
Ford’s feel for his own evolution of style is backed up by the match ball data stats provided exclusively to Planet Rugby by Sage prior to the Six Nations clash with France, which shows how flatter his passing has become as the tournament has progressed.
“The ball stats back up exactly what I’ve been feeling although I hadn’t seen them until now,” he revealed.
“Individually, from my personal point of view, the last two weeks I just wanted to be closer to the line, I wanted to be more of a threat and flatter, then bring the other lads with us. That’s what the 10s have been working hard on. Against Scotland, we were too deep off the line.
“When you are going at teams, getting on top of them and creating one-on-ones, creating speed of ball – the ruck is quick, that’s when you get on a bit of a roll and don’t let teams recover. That’s when the best attacks come to the party.
“I had a look at myself and how I could influence the match more, by being flatter and being more at them. That general theme for the rest of the backs as well was to be at teams more and – as simple as it sounds – beat defenders, take people on, create two-on-twos, one-on-ones – fire some shots.
“It’s not erratic. We want to be composed and we want to execute, but there’s definitely a mindset shift; being like that as opposed to where we were. I feel like a different player on the field.”
Honest reflections
“Reflecting back, sometimes you can fall into the trap when you are playing in high-class Test matches (of staying deeper in the pocket) and you have the responsibility of making decisions, managing the game and putting the team in the right areas, I went too far down that end of the spectrum, probably. Well, not probably – definitely. I reflected and realised I needed to come back the other way and threaten, rather than just control,” Ford added.
“I need to be like that to be the player I want to be in the team. We were definitely too far to one side of the spectrum and that’s what the whole conversation was since that (Scotland) game; that we needed to shift the other way.
“I think everyone talks about being ‘at them’, defensively and say: ‘We are going to go after them in defence’ but we can go after them in attack as well, 100 per cent.
“A good attack makes your defence better and makes your kicking game better. Everyone talks about how a good defence makes your attack better but it’s the other way round as well. If you have an unbelievable attack and you’re causing them problems and scoring points, that increases your defensive work as well. It’s been a great learning for us.”
Penny drops
He continued: “I think we’re improving and there’s a good base but we still need to improve on that. But I think the penny has dropped in terms of what type of team we want to be. And how dangerous we can be and the feel on the field. It’s about how different it feels when we are playing like that as opposed to when we’re not.
“We all play rugby because you want to have a craic, you want to fire shots, you want to score points, you want to score tries. You’ve got to do all the other things as well but we’re in a good place now – and we want to get better.
“I’m the first to admit we’ve not been good enough as players and as a team. Up until the last two weeks. Ironically we’ve probably kicked the ball more tonight, so it’s not one or the other. It’s making good decisions at the right time, getting good field position, but we’ve got to bring this other bit with it and that needs to be at the forefront of our mind now; have this attacking mindset, going at teams, going to break the line and score tries.
“Trust me it’s far more enjoyable to play in as well, never mind for the fans watching. We’re going to make sure that’s the top of our priorities going forward.”
