Brave Blossoms’ budding style means Ford can get England attack in bloom

Fly-half ready to pull the strings in bid to get Borthwick’s men back to their fluent best

- Nick Purewal

THE World Cup national anthems have had a revamp after just one round of matches — and now it is time for a remix of England’s attack. 

Fluency in possession has so far eluded head coach Steve Borthwick and attack specialist Richard Wigglesworth this summer.

Against Japan, however, England will be given the chance to play expansively, thanks to the Brave Blossoms’ open, high-tempo game-plan.

Over the next three weeks, as England progress through their Pool D programme in France, it will become clear whether Borthwick’s Red Rose joint is a hackneyed reworking or a classic cover version.

England’s backline has become fractured into two parts, and the coaches must find a way to mend the fissures that run between the two centres.

The current Test set-up in attack looks as though England are employing one system for scrum-half, fly-half and inside centre, and another for outside centre, the two wings and the full-back.

In the car trade, the most dangerous of practices is the ‘cut and shut’, where two vehicles damaged in accidents at either end are split apart. The damaged sections are dispensed, while the intact corresponding partsare welded together into a makeshift new vehicle. A degree in mechanical engineering is not required to know the danger involved.