England fly-half George Ford is ready to take his chance for Stuart Lancaster's side against Samoa at Twickenham Our intent to play was good, we just need to make good decisions. The decision-making, whether to run, pass and kick is enormous from a nine and a 10. Against bigger teams who will come out of the traps firing they are going to want to smash you. You need to be a bit smarter and try to play in behind them a bit more and turn them around and make it difficult when the big lads tired. It's all about decisions. Ford was not attempting to criticise Farrell, a friend since their days at St George's School in Harpenden, but by saying England need to be a lot smarter the implication was that they were not very intelligent against South Africa. It was left to others to offer far more direct attacks of Farrell's performance. Naas Botha, the great Springbok fly-half, said: "He doesn't have a rugby brain, he has a rugby league brain." There is a ring of truth in that statement, particularly when you saw Farrell seek contact with numbers outside him midway through the first half. Aside from Jonny May's individual try and a few broken-field bursts by Mike Brown, England's back three have barely been employed in an attacking capacity. "It's just manipulating the right time to get them into the game," Ford said. We don't want to give them the ball when there's a brick wall in front of them. We want to give them the ball in space and give them counter-attack ball where they're going to be at their most dangerous. The misfiring attack is an issue that goes beyond Farrell, yet the buck for that area stops with the man in the No 10 shirt. It was noticeable that Saracens" attack looked far sharper when Charlie Hodgson, who had another fine game against Leicester yesterday , replaced Farrell in the Aviva Premiership and Heineken Cup finals last season. Ford has also got a dynamic Bath back line purring this season and should get his first international start against Samoa on Saturday, which many feel is overdue. "I think I'm ready, yes," Ford said. Obviously I really want a chance. It will be important to make Samoa work hard from their own half, turn them around and if we get opportunities to attack or counter-attack, from wherever it may be, let the wingers and full-backs - our brilliant strike runners - take us back into our attacking shape and play it that way.