England Fly-half George Ford Hopeful of Australia Start

England fly-half George Ford is hopeful his inspiring display in the victory over Samoa will be enough to retain the No.10 jersey for the visit of Australia next week.

The Bath half-back kicked 16 points from the floor, but his performance with the ball in hand was the most impressive aspect of the 21-year old's display, with a jinking first half run and a driven cross-field kick which led to Mike Brown's try the standout moments in an otherwise dreary England performance.

After trialing Ford and Owen Farrell in the 10-12 axis, coach Stuart Lancaster must decide whether to prolong the experiment for England's final autumn international or reinstate the Saracens player in his regular position.

"There were some aspects of my game that I was pleased with, there are some that I can definitely work on," said Ford. "I always look at it from a team performance. It's brilliant to get a win out there, get the five losses away from us and get some momentum going into this week.

"You always want to play, you always want to start for England don't you? But it's up to the coaches, they'll come up with a plan and a team that they think is best to beat Australia, whether I am involved in that or not I will back it 100% because it's going to be a massive squad effort this week to beat them."

Perhaps the most notable facet of Ford's game was his durability amid several big hits – including from John Leota who was sin-binned for a high tackle which was adjudged to be dangerous – from a Samoa team bearing their own scars from a harrowing build-up to the game.

"Against Samoa they're always going to be different because they're massive men," he added. "It probably was more physical than what I am used to at Premiership level but we expected that coming into the game. It was enjoyable to take those hits, but you've got to do it.

"I think test matches are always steps up. The intensity of it, the speed of it the time the ball is in play is generally up so it was a step up in terms of that.

"You find yourself blowing quiet a lot of the time because the intensity is up there but the more you play it the more you get used to it but as a team I thought we played that side pretty well."