Ford details Wilkinson advice to exploit 'underused' tactic at Rugby World Cup
George Ford revealed Jonny Wilkinson gave him the nugget of advice that turned him into last weekend’s hat-trick hero.
Ford nailed three drops in last weekend's opening 27-10 win over Argentina that kick-started England’s World Cup campaign and the No.10 reckons there are more where that lot came from. Wilko, who sealed his legendary status with his extra-time World Cup winner against Australia in 2003, still pops into England camp.
The former fly-half lives nearby their Surrey base and nips into training to work with kickers Owen Farrell, Ford and Marcus Smith on an ad hoc basis. And Ford, who starts at 10 in Sunday's pool game with Japan in Nice , says Wilko told him to keep his eyes wide shut when shooting for goal.
The 30-year-old said: “Jonny’s big thing is don’t worry about the posts. Obviously, you need to know where they are but the only thing you can control is what you do in terms of how you place the ball and what you do with your body.
“He said you can have the ugliest drop in the world but if you get your body right, and the ball is in the slot, and you get the momentum of your body towards the target you can do it. How many drop goals do you see that flap over? A lot of kickers say if you speak to kids growing up they are constantly looking at the posts as if they are going move to make the ball go over.
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“It was probably underused. You watch Jonny’s era in 2003 and 2007 the influence drop goals had on the game then was enormous. Maybe the game has tipped the balance the other side of the spectrum where everyone thinks you need to score tries every two minutes but you need a variety of ways of scoring.
George Ford has been spending time with Jonny Wilkinson in England training (Getty Images)“We had spoken quite a bit about them in pre-season and how big they can be, especially at World Cups. They can be really effective and hopefully we can show that again.”
The peerless Wilkinson, who nailed 36 drop goals for England, presides over sessions when Farrell, Smith and Ford go head-to-head to see who bottles a pot shot first. And Kevin Sinfield, the England defence coach and rugby league kicking legend, has reinforced the importance of kicking in tournament games.
Ford added: “It is interesting speaking to Kev, because in rugby league you might not see as many drop goals, because it is only worth one point. But he said as soon as play-off games came around, how much they practiced went through the roof because they knew they would need a couple in a semi or a final, so we are doing this thing at the minute where we kick until we miss.
“Obviously if you don’t kick many before you miss you might go again but there is a fair bit of competition and pressure between us three when we are doing it. We are bringing lads over to come and put pressure on us, because we are not daft, you are not in armchair. You need to make it as realistic as possible.”
Jamie Joseph’s Japanese side are huge underdogs but have a pedigree of causing shocks in World Cups, after their stunning wins over South Africa in 2015, and Ireland and Scotland in 2019. Ford and his team mates watched Uruguay nearly pull off a heist on hosts France on Thursday on TV from their Le Touquet hotel, and the fly-half says that served as a reminder of not to take their foot off the gas.
“All the boys watched the game,” he said. “That night it was crystal clear to me, if you don’t get your intensity and your physicality right then you’re going to be in for a hard day at the office.”
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