England will do their utmost to stick by Owen Farrell even if the captain misses a clutch of Rugby World Cup matches through suspension.
The England skipper faces a crucial disciplinary hearing on Tuesday, after his red card for a head-high tackle on Taine Basham in Saturday’s 19-17 win over Wales at Twickenham.
Farrell could cop a ban running to six weeks as a repeat offender, having been suspended for three weeks for a similar offence in January.
England head coach Steve Borthwick selected three fly-halves in his World Cup 33 to cover such eventualities.
A six-week suspension would see Farrell miss England’s entire pool-stage campaign, but Borthwick would still be expected to keep faith with his captain despite a significant test of resources.
George Ford delivered a composed, focused and authoritarian performance in Saturday’s win over Wales, while Marcus Smith has all the credentials to run a World Cup backline.
Farrell could be more likely to face a suspension of four weeks rather than six, and in that scenario, England would be confident of riding out his absence.
England face the potent Argentina in their World Cup opener, in Marseille on September 9. Japana are next up in the second round of matches, before further clashes against Chile and Samoa.
Sale playmaker Ford kept cool and entirely reorganised England’s attack against Wales, to scramble a victory out of another messy, disjointed performance – and an indisciplined one at that.
England’s five minutes with just 12 men bears no repeating, but Ford’s drive to victory at least hands Borthwick’s men a tiny piece of momentum.
“We’re blessed with the three players we have in that position,” said Borthwick, of England’s fly-halves. “Owen, George and Marcus, they are three world-class players, which I think will be the envy of a lot of countries around the world.
“George played really well on Saturday, and you’d expect that, we’ve seen that before from him. He’s a great thinker about the game. He studies the game, he watches the game – a lot.
“He’s always coming forward with ideas, thoughts and improvements. We’re very fortunate to have him, along with the other 10s, in the squad.”
Where England could fall into problems without Farrell for an extended run is in the battle to keep players fresh and share out match minutes.
England face world No1 side Ireland in Dublin on Saturday, where Borthwick will have no choice but to select from strength for the penultimate World Cup warm-up.
Entertaining Fiji on August 26 might allow for some rotation, but players still need to be battle ready for that gargantuan Argentina clash.
Borthwick and his coaches would have wanted to give all three fly-halves starts across the pool stage in France, but Farrell’s impending suspension might remove that luxury.
England only avoided slipping to a record-low world ranking of ninth by the skin of their teeth against Wales. And Borthwick’s attacking framework continues to come under intense scrutiny.
Either England are playing the longest game of rope-a-dope ever seen, or their playbooks are just not binding.
A first half punctuated by too many deep passes to static would-be ball-carriers 10 metres behind the gainline represents a major cause for concern.
If England go to the World Cup without revealing any of the cards in their hand, the deck will be stacked against them.
