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Owen Farrell of Saracens and George Ford of Bath together at the end of Premiership play-off final
Owen Farrell of Saracens and George Ford of Bath, right, together at the end of the Premiership play-off final. Photograph: Henry Browne/Action Images via Reuters
Owen Farrell of Saracens and George Ford of Bath, right, together at the end of the Premiership play-off final. Photograph: Henry Browne/Action Images via Reuters

Bath’s George Ford loses out in battle with Saracens’ Owen Farrell

This article is more than 8 years old
at Twickenham
Michael Aylwin at Twickenham
England’s World Cup squad fly-half rivals face each other in Premiership play-off final with Farrell earning most plaudits in Saracens’ 28-16 win

So the debate is back on. It is not one that will prove very popular with the romantics – those who believe that a team need more than a defensive game to win a World Cup. In Bath’s highest-stakes match of the season, when those who have pretensions to performing in the highest-stakes internationals need to demonstrate their composure and authority, George Ford was forced to watch his old friend and rival, Owen Farrell, dominate proceedings. Worse than that, Farrell, who has spent this season watching Ford work wonders in an England shirt – his England shirt – emerged from the final with 18 points and the man-of-the-match award.

It would be unjust for Stuart Lancaster to reach any conclusions based on this game. Ford, particularly in the first half, had to play behind a well-beaten pack. The battle was not won at No10 and Ford will expect to enter the summer’s preparations as England’s first-choice fly-half.

Here was a chance missed, though, for this match will resonate as the last meaningful contest for English players before the World Cup. England’s friendlies in August will provide opportunities while being tainted by the knowledge that they are not the real thing.

Could Ford have done any more? One missed touch in the dying minutes will stand against him. It was rushed in trying circumstances but otherwise the young fly-half was central to Bath’s revival in the second half, which briefly threatened to make something of the contest. He landed two penalties and his artful coaxing paved the way for Jonathan Joseph’s try 10 minutes after the interval. Bath pulled back from 22 points adrift at the break to within nine at the start of the final quarter. Ford landed four kicks at goal from four.

His was far from a poor performance. Rather he suffered, even in the second half when Bath dominated possession for long stretches, from Bath’s extravagant attempts to pull teams from side to side. What he could have done with is more heavy-duty options on his shoulder but that was hardly his fault. Leroy Houston, David Wilson and co had surprisingly subdued games. Indeed, Bath’s most effective ball-carrier was, wait for it, Sam Burgess.

Once they had made a precious breach through Saracens’ middle, one man who demonstrated his England place is set in stone was Joseph. Duncan Taylor is one of the Premiership’s best defenders with a telescopic reach and he could not lay a finger on Joseph, who not only took him on the outside but did so having started on Taylor’s inside shoulder. It was a sumptuous piece of finishing.

But it was not enough, not nearly. Those who think “you need more” to win a World Cup than a solid defensive game and a steely temperament cannot have been watching many World Cups. International coaches the world over – and not just Lancaster – set great store in the above virtues, which is why Farrell is never going to be far from their thoughts, however much it might rile the dreamers.

He has suffered this season from a palpable lack of match fitness. To have thrown him straight in against the All Blacks in November was an obvious mistake by Lancaster, notwithstanding those mental qualities. He is still short of game time even now but he needed a big performance in this final – and he’s one of those guys who tends to get what he needs.

Still, there may yet prove a sting in the tail of this one. Right at the start he put in a high tackle on Anthony Watson. The Bath full-back looked sufficiently at sea moments later, when Farrell sashayed past him for the game’s opening try, to suggest that the hit had taken its toll. Indeed, he left the field for a head assessment at that point and never returned.

Mike Ford, George’s father, went so far as to describe the hit afterwards as worth a red. It was dealt with at the time by the referee, who awarded only the penalty, but, if the citing officers see things as Ford Sr does, then Farrell’s involvement in the World Cup may yet be affected, bearing in mind what happened to Dylan Hartley.

Which takes the story to Jamie George, who really shone among the England contenders up front. It may turn out that Hartley’s indiscretion in last weekend’s semi-final is seen less as a head-butt, more as an anointment, a poignant ceremony in which he gave the nod to his successor.

The pace that George brandished to score Saracens’ second try, seeing off Kyle Eastmond and Ford on the way to the line, caught the eye but his excellence at the set piece will have impressed Lancaster the most. He is a barrel-chested unit who knows how to knit together a scrum, and his throwing is accurate. Quite why he was left out of England’s initial party of 51 is a mystery but given he outplayed Ross Batty here, who is keeping another England hooker, Rob Webber, out of Bath’s team, he must now be a live contender for the World Cup party.

Saracens’ team was full of them at Twickenham. Last week Bath were the darlings of the English game. Here they discovered there is further yet to climb before the rarefied plains have been reached.

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