England legend Matt Dawson has admitted that he would be shocked if Owen Farrell starts at fly-half in next weekend’s Rugby World Cup semi-final against Fiji. Steve Borthwick’s men limped into the knockout stages on Saturday with a hard-fought win over Samoa, who were seven minutes away from victory before Danny Care’s late try saw England survive a major scare.
Farrell was picked to start at inside centre against Samoa and made history as he became England’s all-time highest points scorer, surpassing Johnny Wilkinson’s record that stood firm for over two decades. He also set an unwanted record when he became the first player to get beaten by the shot clock by taking longer than 60 seconds to kick a late penalty.
George Ford, meanwhile, played at fly-half for England but was taken off after just 51 minutes as Borthwick shuffled his pack in search of victory. Farrell has also played in the position for much of his England career but Dawson believes that Ford will be a shoo-in at No 10 against Fiji in the quarter-finals.
He told the BBC: “They’ve broken up the midfield that worked well against Japan and Argentina but Steve Borthwick is so loyal to Owen Farrell that it felt inevitable. There’s a part of me that thinks they brought George Ford off because they’ll need him next week.
“I cannot believe that anybody in the coaching staff thinks that Farrell is a better 10 than George Ford right now. I’d find that quite concerning if that was the case, therefore I’m going down the line of they must have just wanted to bring him [Ford] off.
“Or there’s a chance they’re trying a combination of [Marcus] Smith at full-back, [Freddie] Steward on the wing, Farrell at 10, some bigger ball-carriers in midfield. But again, it’s this notion of trying things at a World Cup [which is a problem].”
Farrell was banned for England’s opening two games at the Rugby World Cup but was ushered straight back into the side as soon as he was eligible to play. It remains to be seen whether Borthwick will persist with the 32-year-old against Fiji or switch things up in the midfield, with Ford looking likely to keep his place at fly-half.
England will certainly be hoping to improve their collective performance after barely scraping past Samoa, who dominated proceedings on Saturday and were unlucky to lose. They have already been beaten by Fiji this year in a friendly at Twickenham and will be desperate to avoid a repeat as they look to seal their place in the Rugby World Cup semi-finals.
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