The first rule of finals rugby is the same as it ever was. The team that maintain their composure when the pressure starts to mount are generally the side that prevail. And if your playmakers can display a sure touch in the final quarter, your odds shorten even more.
There were some good examples last weekend, not least from Munster’s Jack Crowley. When the moment came to nail Leinster with a late drop-goal in the Aviva Stadium, the 23-year-old was more than equal to the challenge to book his team a place in the United Rugby Championship final against the Stormers in Cape Town. It underlined why several good judges believe he has a lengthy Test career ahead of him.
In the cases of Owen Farrell and George Ford, however, a more urgent debate is resurfacing. Farrell and Ford are international-class fly-halves; they have 190 England caps between them and were instrumental in steering, respectively, Saracens and Sale to this season’s Premiership final. Their eagerly awaited Twickenham duel on Saturday week is now freighted with extra significance. Which of them will end up being lobbed the keys to No 10 when England kick off their Rugby World Cup campaign against Argentina in September?
It is a familiar question with a fascinating fresh twist. Because Ford, 30, and Farrell, 31, have come through periods of turbulence to become properly rounded, mature match-winners. In Ford’s case, injury and the emergence of Marcus Smith threatened to marginalise him at Test level. Farrell had the England captaincy taken from him last year and lost his goal-kicking mojo. Now, with a World Cup less than four months away, both look as composed and influential on the field as they have ever done.
Their club coaches waxed lyrical about them at the weekend with good reason. Farrell’s – and Saracens’ – option-taking was outstanding against Northampton and his full range of kicking skills was in glorious evidence. Better even than the skilful little grubber kick that set up Sean Maitland for a momentum-building early try was the soaring “spiral bomb” in the second half that left poor George Furbank grasping at fresh air. While it ended up bouncing the wrong side of the corner flag, no kick out of hand this season has been struck so sweetly. Farrell just stood there and smiled, like a golfer who has just driven the distant green only to see his ball ricochet off the flagstick and into the lake.
Ford’s contribution, though, was even more telling. As Leicester’s young half-backs tightened up in the last quarter and started making costly errors, the former Tiger was tactically spot-on. He lacks Farrell’s physical presence but few see the game more clearly. While Sale’s winning try, scored by Aaron Reed, came from Ford’s worst pass of the day, a bouncing ball that the winger did brilliantly to collect, he barely put a foot wrong otherwise.
As readers of this column will already be aware, Smith is also a player of rare, energising talent. Watching Ford in recent weeks, though, it is impossible not to wonder about the potential shorter-term implications for the national side. In the end it is less a matter of which of the three red rose amigos is the best individual player as who would be the snuggest fit right now for an underperforming England side in need of more direction. And if an imperious Ford somehow navigates Sale past Farrell and Saracens on Saturday week, the England head coach, Steve Borthwick, may have little choice but to trust the evidence of his own eyes.
Because a more controlled, clear-eyed England would instantly be a different proposition. And if Ford, whom Borthwick knows well from their Leicester days, can be that all-seeing catalyst, why would the management not pick him? In the past the argument has been that Ford’s goal-kicking has been slightly less reliable and that he is a less hard-hitting defender. Now he is nailing pretty much every kick – note how long he now stares down at the grass even as the ball bisects the distant uprights – and is displaying the all-round clarity and purpose that once led to him being crowned the world junior player of the year.
So if England wish to reboot themselves without throwing everything into the mixer again (there is no longer sufficient time for that) the solution is staring them in the face. In that event the only issue would be whether Farrell should revert to No 12 alongside his good mate or sit on the bench. Both involve fudging the issue slightly – Farrell is a better 10 than he is 12 and if any back-up fly-half is perfectly equipped to conjure special something against a tiring defence in the final quarter it is surely Smith.
Clearly though, there is no way England will omit Farrell from their World Cup squad, which leaves Smith as the most vulnerable of the trio. Three specialist fly-halves would be a luxury – particularly with a week’s break now a feature of the pool stages – and Henry Slade offers greater utility value with his ability to play at fly-half, centre or, in an emergency, full-back. The fact the tournament is being staged just across the Channel in France also makes it simpler to summon 11th-hour replacements if required.
So, yes, one man alone is not going to win next week’s Premiership final. If Sale’s forwards, with a few ill-timed injury concerns, cannot establish any momentum, their fly-half will look as mortal as anyone else. England also still have a big choice to make at scrum-half. But Ford is one more five-star display away from transforming the landscape in terms of this autumn’s World Cup. How Farrell reacts to that challenge will be similarly fascinating. The winner could yet be English rugby.
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