England are considering moving captain Owen Farrell to fly-half for Sunday’s Rugby World Cup quarter-final against Fiji.
England’s coaching staff have been weighing up a midfield reshuffle for the do-or-die clash here in Marseille.
Farrell moving to fly-half would likely also see Manu Tuilagi shift to inside centre, with Joe Marchant or Ollie Lawrence to come in at No13.
Any such shift would prove tough on Sale playmaker George Ford, who excelled at fly-half in England’s most important tournament victory yet here in France, the opening 27-10 win over Argentina.
Farrell was suspended for that encounter, and the 34-12 win over Japan, but has hit back in England’s pool-stage wins over Chile and Samoa.
England’s players and coaches have admitted that the stuttering performance in last weekend’s 18-17 win over Samoa will not be sufficient against Fiji on Sunday.
Ford and Farrell paired up at 10 and 12 against Samoa and showed flashes of the attacking shapes that so underpinned England’s run to the 2019 World Cup Final, with that duo so often in tandem in Japan.
But England must now deliver their best performance of the competition bar none to reach the semi-finals, and while he could still unleash another Ford-Farrell collaboration, head coach Steve Borthwick has been looking at moving Farrell to fly-half.
Attack coach Richard Wigglesworth played with Farrell for years with both Saracens and England, and still sees the 109-cap star as one of the best around.
In the Aix-en-Provence concert hall named after famed composer Darius Milhaud, Wigglesworth yesterday delivered a hymn to Farrell’s enduring Test harmony.
“He’s a winner. Under the harshest of pressures and biggest of moments he tends to get better,” said Wigglesworth. “He doesn’t just get better, but has more of an impact on the people around him as well. We’ve got one of the best to do it, we’re lucky to have him. He will no doubt have a massive impact on this week and this game.”
England could, in theory, place both Ford and Marcus Smith on their bench on Sunday. If Elliot Daly were to start on the wing, with Marchant at outside centre, then England would perhaps have the flexibility on the field to name two playmakers among the replacements.
The Ford-Farrell axis showed elements of success in Saturday’s creaky Samoa win, as the pair linked up from the off for the first time since 2021.
But England know they need far more than the odd flourish to defeat a Fiji side that toppled them 30-22 at Twickenham in August.
“I think glimpses is the right way to describe it against Samoa. A lot of it was scrappy, and we know we need significant improvement if we’re going to win this quarter-final,” said Wigglesworth.
“All parts of the attack have to be in sync, otherwise the breakdown might look okay, but there could be an issue on the edge; or if you have an issue with your contact skills, that can throw up a problem somewhere else.
“It was the first time in a while together for George and Owen, but they’ve played a lot of rugby together. They are two guys that I would lean on in terms of their knowledge, expertise and how well they manage the game. They deal with things really well, which allows them to work things out.”
Ford had the ball on a string in England’s vital win over Argentina, but the Red Rose men admit they did not kick well enough against Samoa.
Kicking strategy may well be just one of the ways in which Borthwick’s side look to negate Fiji’s breakdown threat.
Levani Botia might just be the world’s best turnover hunter, and England’s ball retention remains one of their sticking points.
“We kicked very well at the start of the tournament, and against Chile it was good as well, but we also played with a lot of variety that day,” said Wigglesworth. “We got out of their half in ruthless fashion, and we want to get back to that. We didn’t do that against Samoa, and that was not our intention. That was one of the facets of the game that wasn’t good enough and we’re looking to improve.”
