He added: “But ultimately, your fly-half has to dictate the game. And what we saw at the weekend was a George Ford, who had no distractions, was incredibly focused on what he needed to do, even under the pressures of 14 men.

“It was his decision, nobody else’s decision. He didn’t have a Ben Youngs or an Owen Farrell, either side of him, suggesting different ideas. It was just ‘Well, this is how it’s gonna happen’. And I think potentially, it created clarity for his team.

“So as much as it would be an enormous call not to play Owen Farrell, I think the dynamic of 9, 10, 12, 13 or even put No 8 in there as well, is pretty solid. And it’s a really decent, middle third that you’ve got there of the team that England have been clamouring for a long, long time. It’s going to be a big call just to disrupt that.”