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Eddie Jones defends George Ford after his poor kicking performance
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The fly-half missed six of his seven kicks
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Despite Ford’s struggles off the tee England finished with a 27-13 win over Wales at Twickenham
Eddie Jones said that England fly-half George Ford played “extremely well” despite missing six of his seven kicks in the win over Wales.
“I thought he did extremely well. I thought he was brilliant, really good. I’ve seen Tiger Woods miss putts and Michael Jordan miss jump shots, everyone has a bad day. He had a bad day kicking, but I thought the rest of his play was brilliant,” Jones said.
“Bottom line is we scored five tries, one was a big “how’s your mother”, and the others four of the backs scored them. If you score four against Wales your fly-half’s doing something right.
“I didn’t hear [the booing] to be honest. That’s not very nice is it. We’ve got to be careful of that in rugby because that’s what’s defined the game. That shouldn’t happen.
“I don’t talk to him about his kicking, he’ll work it out himself. Good players work it out themselves. He’s got Jonny [Wilkinson] to call on if he needs some advice. He’s a good player George.
“He’s a tough boy. I’m not worried about him, he’ll be fine and he’s a fantastic rugby player. Everyone has experiences which aren’t pleasant but he’ll be fine.
“What strikes me in this press conference is that we’ve beaten Wales by five tries and we’re talking about a guy who can’t kick a few goals.
“It just shows the negative reaction in English rugby and I find it quite sad to be honest. When do you score five tries against Wales?
“They’re at literally full strength and we’re missing 11 players, and we’re talking about a young kid who missed some kicks. I think we need to get some perspective on where we’re going with the game here.”