Most look good when their side dominates possession, territory, but it’s v better teams that these points ratings need to be made.

As mentioned above though, when Nowell scored a particular try of note, England’s midfield handling was sharp… & as they could only play what was in front of them, some of these moves still rated highly.

I’ve also been critical of Ford before as, when the hair dryer’s, on he can make duff choices (kicking needlessly to the oppo when retention of possession was the right choice; e.g. v Saracens late on & also v Fr over there) & his execution deserts him (again v Fr when he dropped a catch, missed a pen touch, dropped out on the full plus kicked down Spedding’s throat, all in the 1st 7!)

However, I’d have him in over Farrell any day as at least he has the potential of being able to run, pass or kick. Farrell will kick goals & tackles (except for missing his man, Foley, twice, allowing Oz to score tries), but offers little else – at top level.

Personally I’d have gone for Cipriani over the 2 of them, but that’s another story.

Seems Ford needs counselling to keep his thinking going under pressure because, unless he can master this, England need to move on to another.

Agree regds midfield as well. Lancs chipped & chopped & changed till it made my head (& his?) spin. Dunno why he didn’t go with the Bath line & supplement it with say JJ, Slade(?), Nowell etc.

Late on, when Nowell scored down the right at 1 time in particular, England’s back line handling looked (& was) slick, but I ? why they weren’t playing like this from the beginning, i.e., v Wales & Oz. Can surely only be from the coaches’ lack of belief & faith in an all court game & fear of failure? Why else on earth would Burgess have EVER got into these sides… & then, even more rapidly, be gone!?

So, your last para makes perfect sense to me… & hopefully to Ritchie, Andrew etc… & as much to the point, the ‘new'(?) coach/es.

You’re falling into the age old trap, which Lancaster himself was also quick to promote, that within the next 4 years England will be ‘a world class squad’.

You’ve ALWAYS had players aplenty, but it’s in your coaching where you fall over. Without a w class coaching set up you’ll likely fail again. No matter that you may have Superman, Bruce Willis & even King Kong in your squad!

It’s 1st of all about a change in your thinking at the top, i.e. Ritchie, Andrew etc, whereby they keep picking wrongun’s. Somebody’s already mentioned ‘The Godfather’ clause that ‘The fish rots from the head down’.

It’s a mind set change in thinking that’s required. It’s about what you want to achieve & then how you go about doing it.

Otherwise it’s just more of the same with a new face which is unlikely to work.

I would like to see Burrell with Slade in the midfield, as I think they would compliment each other better than Burrell and JJ. Also think Slade and Daly would be a good partnership. Slade looked quite comfortable at 12, and Daly needs to be in the set up.

Ford was trusted with 2 starts, neither tier one nations (not that we are these days), and both times required a defensive baby sitter in Barritt and Farrell. I think even the most self confident of players would be affected.

Farrell was chosen to tackle and kick, both with mixed success. Maybe just have them both at 5.5 and be done with it!

I just couldn’t understand Farrell being marked down for missing two tackles and two conversions, when the two tackles Farrell missed were tackles already missed by Ford, and Ford missed all his conversions.
Also don’t remember Ford making any memorable breaks through the midfield or really threatening the gain etc, etc.
I don’t remember Farrell putting in a cross field kick in his own 22, with two men outside him and two defenders in front of him (said kick then going straight into touch!). Or bending down to attempt to pick up the ball from a wobbly line out throw (from a Sarries player no less!!), only to knock it on. Either jump on it, or kick it up field, but don’t try and pick it up with the Urugayan pack piling through from the lineout.

I take your point about Ford, but at this level players have to take it on the chin and move on. This should have been the ideal game for Ford to do that, concentrate on running the back line and getting some flow to the attack. Maybe he would have been better without Farrell? I don’t know, but if he can’t take the knocks and kickbacks that come at this level, then he’s not going to make it at this level.

Whoever takes this England team forward from here needs to think long and hard about what sort of midfield they want to play with, and play the players who fit that. Both Ford and Farrell should have a part in that, as they are the best we have at the moment.

Managment basically said to him that we don’t trust you. Is it any wonder his confidence was shot and he made errors?

Ford puts crossfield kicks into touch, misses all his conversions, fails to jump on a loose ball, instead knocking it on on the floor to give away possession, hardly makes a decent break all game, and shows some serious hesitation and gets marked a 6?

This should have been a game for Ford to flourish and how his attacking flair, but he didn’t even get his kicking boots on. Think you must have been watching a different game to me.

To be honest I think you’ve been quite generous in all these scores apart from Easter, Nowell, Slade and Launchbury.