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Lewis Moody: Jury still out on George Ford-Owen Farrell pairing with Kyle Eastmond waiting in wings

Image: Owen Farrell and George Ford: Reprised youth partnership against Samoa

The jury is still out on George Ford and Owen Farrell's 10-12 partnership, according to former England captain Lewis Moody.

Stuart Lancaster took the plunge and played the former school friends together as England ended their five-match losing run with victory over Samoa at Twickenham on Saturday

Ford's performance at fly-half was widely praised, and World Cup-winning coach Sir Clive Woodward told Sky Sports afterwards the time has come to give the Ford-Farrell combination "a real run".

But Moody reckons Ford's club partnership with Bath No 12 Kyle Eastmond, who missed the Samoa game with concussion, could ultimately prove the "go-to pairing" for Lancaster when Australia visit London next weekend.

He told Sky Sports News HQ: "In the first half, the Ford-Farrell partnership looked quite exciting - they used to play together at school and you could see they had a connection.

"But I think as the game went on I wasn't entirely convinced that combination was the 'go-to'. I think Eastmond, who also plays his rugby at Bath, may be Stuart's 'go-to'.

"It's created some interesting questions - Stuart always wanted to look at Ford and Farrell, and he's now seen them. It wasn't a bad performance by both of them, and it was a wonderful one by Ford himself, but I just don't know whether we saw enough in that combination to go with them against Australia.

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"I've liked Eastmond during the autumn series - he brings an exciting element to England's attack, and I think he's improved his defence. And his having played with Ford at club level could be very useful."

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