TWICKENHAM STADIUM — This is bad news if your surname happens to be Smith, but George Ford has made himself undroppable for England, as they head to Murrayfield for next Saturday’s Six Nations second-round blockbuster.
That is how good Ford’s form in the England No 10 jersey has been since last summer’s tour of Argentina and the USA, continuing through the autumn of four wins out of four at Twickenham, and now Saturday’s 48-7 thrashing of Wales to kick off the Six Nations.
Marcus Smith seems to be drifting steadily further away from starting as his country’s fly-half, with the dream faded of a backline built around his special talent – maybe due to the coaching philosophy under Steve Borthwick, or because it is too tricky to build such a concept outside of a club’s everyday set-up, as Smith has enjoyed at Harlequins. He has become an auxiliary fly-half/full-back for England, and may even lose that role to George Furbank over time.
Ford’s standards in all parts of his game, kicking included, remain high (Photo: Getty)Fin Smith looked to be the coming fly-half for England 18 months ago but the Northampton Saint has been injured recently, and while he has been seen in training in the past few days, he has not made a case to immediately oust Ford.
In this match, Wales on their miserable run of 22 Test defeats in 24 were never going to offer England a threat across the full 80 minutes.
And Ford had them tied up in knots within the first 20.
His screen pass across a flummoxed defence sent Henry Arundell over for the first of the pacy wing’s hat-trick of tries in the first half.
Then Arundell scored his second with a short sprint and catch of a dinked kick-pass by Ford. It was a link made with the languid ease of a No 10 at peace with himself and his place in the team.
And that might be expected, as Ford was making his 106th Test appearance – except that for long spells of his career there has been a rival or team-mate elbowing him sideways; mainly Owen Farrell or one of the Smiths.
Another of Ford’s signature skills is the spiral-bomb kick, and he used it here to unleash confusion in the orbit of Wales’s full-back Louis Rees-Zammit.
George Ford's Spiral Bomb kicks That needs to be trademarked pic.twitter.com/fLWgD4JBhz
— ITV Rugby (@ITVRugby) February 7, 2026With just a yard of extra pace, Ford might have scored himself with a line break in the second half. But if you are looking for a fly-half with such a complete package in modern times there is the name of New Zealand’s Dan Carter and not many others.
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Ford also landed five conversions out of seven in wet conditions, and he showed the high standard to which he holds himself when he looked disappointed at a last-minute shot from the touchline hitting a post.
England’s scrum-half Alex Mitchell summed up the value of Ford when he recently described him as the Rodri of the red-rose team, for the way he calmly fits everything together (and leaving aside the Manchester City man’s more recent lack of form and fitness).
“He gets the team to tick,” Mitchell said of Ford.
“He doesn’t always do the most X-factor things but behind the scenes, the players within the squad know how important these players are.”
England’s head coach Steve Borthwick was so impressed by Ford four days before this match that he called a halt to training to big up to the whole squad an “incredible moment of physicality” by his fly-half that created a turnover for Jamie George.
Brilliant from England even with the two-man advantage Wales are in a right pickle as Henry Arundell gets his second pic.twitter.com/o9YNSeB2SZ
— ITV Rugby (@ITVRugby) February 7, 2026As Borthwick explained in the post-match media conference: “It was a point to say the two most senior players in the squad, training at that level, set an example for everyone.”
George chipped in to say with a smile how Borthwick had in fact used the words “the oldest players”, rather than “most senior”.
But the warm feeling towards the 32-year-old Ford was the thing. “If you’ve got that,” Borthwick said, “and then you’ve got these youngsters like Henry Pollock bringing what they bring, the energy, that’s a great mix to have.”
Fin Smith may yet reassert his claims before next year’s World Cup but right now Ford is quietly fronting England’s tilt at a first Six Nations title since 2020.
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