Has Eddie Jones made the right call dropping George Ford for England's World Cup quarter-final vs Australia?

George Flood17 October 2019

England announced their team to contest the Rugby World Cup quarter-final against Australia in Oita on Thursday, with Eddie Jones springing one big surprise with his selection.

While irreplaceable No8 Billy Vunipola's return from an ankle injury suffered against Argentina was expected and brother Mako's and Courtney Lawes' inclusion in the pack doesn't raise any eyebrows, the call to drop George Ford to the bench was not anticipated and arguably represents a sizeable gamble.

In switching captain Owen Farrell to fly-half and pairing Manu Tuilagi with Henry Slade in midfield, Jones has restored his preferred 10-12-13 axis from the Six Nations - likely in a bid to contain the threat of formidable Wallabies centre Samu Kerevi - while benching one of England's most impressive performers at the tournament so far.

"Once you get to the quarter-finals it’s about having the right mindset," Jones explained. "We know how well we can play, it’s about us playing to our strengths and trying to take away from what Australia want.

“Australia are a clever team, they will have some specific attacking strategies to play against us so we need to have a great situational awareness. We need to defend with brutality and when we have the ball we need play on top of them.”

It is a sense of Deja Vu for Ford, who was also dropped by previous head coach Stuart Lancaster for crucial pool games against Wales and Australia during England's doomed 2015 World Cup campaign on home soil.

Has Eddie Jones made the right decision dropping Ford for such a crucial fixture?

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