It’s Ford time

While the Scots struggled along the touchline in their opening match of the RBS Six Nations tournament against France in Edinburgh parity was achieved next time out in Wales. More recently the Scots had a distinct edge in that area over Ireland in Dublin and that is one positive Ford insists can be taken forward. “Sometimes our line-out has worked well and on other occasions there have been a few simple errors.

Going into this game we can hopefully aspire to 100 per cent and build a platform from there.” Another area where Ford reckons improvement has come is in the way Scotland have cultivated extra width. “We are happier with the wider game we are (now] trying to play compared with the tighter approach earlier on.” By using the extra space Ford hopes that a winning game plan can fall into place. “They (England] have a big pack. Hopefully we can play at a pace that takes them out of the game.

They have faded slightly in the second half. “We have a great group of players with loads of ability. It is about getting momentum and when that happens I am sure we are going to click,” Edinburgh player Ford went on to explain.