Ford is a perfect example everyone wanted him dropped, have this as the end of his England career. But it was clear he was playing to orders
Define "everyone". He's still got plenty of cheerleaders here.
For myself, I wanted him given the 6N off, to rest and rehab his chronic injury(s) which were probably responsible for his poor form post-RWC, whilst giving the 2 Smiths a full international window to show what they've got without anyone "holding their hand".
Which is not "wanting him dropped" or "the end of his England career". It was always clear that he was playing to orders - orders that had been put in place built around Farrell, whether at 10 or 12 - which had been wasting Ford's talent for the best bst part of a decade.
As for the 6N in retrospect. I'm happy. Far happier than I expected to be.
I felt that Sexy Beast was always the wrong man for the job, too inexperienced and too stats driven (or more to the point, driven by the wrong stats). I didn't buy into the theory that he had 1 plan for the RWC, and a completely different plan for the post-RWC rebuild. I expected to play dull, brainless kick-ball and lose to Ireland Scotland and France without putting up much of a fight, and to maybe scrape past Wales and Italy whilst handing them the "moral victory".
I was wrong (well, maybe not that last bit).
I can see a plan, in defence, attack and transition. It an intelligent plan, and requires very different things from the players. It's a plan that Farrell would absolutely fail at implementing, but suits Ford and FSmith to the ground, and should be well within MSmith's capacity without wasting his point of difference.
We've blooded some youngsters, found a functional centre partnership for the first time since Farrell and Joseph (like it or not, they were functional together), and which shows so much more than that combination. We've found a pair of wingers who look at home on the international stage and fit the new gameplay. We've got a proper alternative at fullback (previously capped, but also previously thrown on the scrap heap).
If, but and maybe... If we'd arrived at the 6N with Martin fit, and with Underhill and Lawrence having a couple of matches under their belt since injury, and maybe Ford having had those injections a week or two earlier... We could have been properly challenging for the t
itle. Give us those, and we're much more comfortable in the opening 2 weeks, arriving in Scotland with confidence and a bit of a groove, and it would be a far more positive campaign.
Of course, there's much still to do. The defence needs at least one more international window to get everyone used to it, probably 2 windows. We still need a proper attack coach (from what I hear, Wiggles is more kicking and skills than attacking shapes - if I'm hearing wrong, then I'm happy enough with him). We need a few improvements in personnel (limited by what's available) as we've too many stop-gaps. But I do have confidence that there is a plan, and that it's a decent one (and using decent stats). Whether it'll be good enough to beat NZ and South Africa (or France and Ireland once they've settled themselves again) is a different question, but I do believe it's good enough to give them something to worry about... In about a year's time.
