2003-2019 head to head: Wilkinson v Ford
How do the class of 2019 compare to the World Cup team of 2003? The Opta team at Stats Perform crunch the numbers.
They came within a game of matching the achievement of the revered Rugby World Cup winning England team, but how did the Rugby World Cup finalists of 2019 compare to their counterparts of 2003?
For the fourth in our series, we take a look at the 10's and compare fly-halves Jonny Wilkinson and George Ford.
Appearances
The pair both played six fixtures in their run to their respective finals.
How did they fare in attack?
It's no surprise that Wilkinson has the greater points total, taking on sole kicking responsibility back in 2003, while Owen Farrell played that role in Japan. However, Ford did score two tries during the 2019 edition giving his points tally a boost as a result.
One noticeable difference between the pair is the number of defenders beaten by the Tigers star, with 11 compared to just two for Wilkinson. As a result, the metres gained by Ford are also significantly greater at 92 compared to 68 for his 2003 equivalent. This highlights the different styles of each player in their respective era.
And in defence?
Going the other way, Wilkinson made more tackles with 42 to Ford's 29, highlighting a difference in style between the two.
It also shows how rugby may have changed over the course of 16 years. Teams perhaps now favouring a less direct style and possibly targeting England's fly-half channel far less. Interestingly, both players have a very similar tackle success rate.
