Eddie Jones offers strong backing for fly-half George Ford

Duncan Bech 00:40 30/05/2016
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  • Under-fire: George Ford.

    Eddie Jones turned on George Ford’s critics and backed the England fly-half to recover from the jeering that greeted his dismal kicking in a 27-13 victory over Wales.

    Ford missed six of his seven shots at goal, comprising of four conversions and two penalties, and it was not until the 48th minute that he was able to make his mark on the scoreboard despite a succession of easy attempts.

    As the misses piled up, a sold-out 80,000 crowd at Twickenham responded with boos and it was an ironic cheer that greeted his conversion of Jack Clifford’s try.

    Ford had been earmarked to start the first Test against Australia in a fortnight’s time and in response to demand for Owen Farrell to be given the 10 jersey for the tour opener in Brisbane, Jones mounted a strong defence of the 23-year-old.

    “That’s not very nice is it? We have got to be careful of that in rugby,” England head coach Jones said when asked about the jeering.

    “He’s a tough boy. I’m not worried about him, he’ll be fine. He’s a fan- tastic rugby player. Everyone has experiences which aren’t pleasant, but he will be fine.

    “I have seen Tiger Woods miss putts, I have seen Michael Jordan miss jump shots, everyone has a bad day and he had a bad day kick- ing but I thought the rest of his play was brilliant.

    “He knew when to run and he knew when to kick and he had a few dabs himself.

    “We scored five tries, one was a bit how’s your mother, and the other four were scored by backs. If you score four tries against Wales your stand-off is doing something right.

    “The thing that strikes me is that we’ve just beaten Wales five tries to one and we’re talking about a guy who can’t kick a few goals.

    “It’s quite amazing and just shows the negative reaction in English rugby. It’s quite sad… I find it quite sad to be honest.”

    Rob Evans crossed early on for Wales but tries from home backs Luther Burrell and Anthony Watson slashed the Welsh lead to 13-10 at the break. Ben Youngs stole over before Jack Clifford showed good pace to power in from distance and Marland Yarde completed the job.

    Meanwhile, Dan Lydiate looks certain to miss Wales’ New Zealand tour after being injured on Sunday.

    “He is struggling,” coach Gatland said. “He has got a hamstring and potentially an AC (shoulder) injury as well.”

    Gatland admitted a “miracle” would be required for Lydiate to recover.

    “Dan has got to process it himself in terms of the tour could already be over for him,” Gatland added. “It is incredibly disappointing that it is unlikely he is going to be getting on the plane tomorrow.”

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