England lost four games for the first time in a Six Nations campaign this year and the 33-year-old fly half admitted a lack of energy in the side was a problem.
He told the Daily Telegraph newspaper: “We didn’t run. Compared to other campaigns, our running distances, accelerations and collision dominance were down. In rugby union, especially at Test level, you need those things otherwise you won’t have a chance.”
George blames the "pressure" of being one of the tournament favourites for England's poor performance and he thinks it is something they need to work on.
He said: “Sometimes when you feel pressure or expectation mentally, it affects you physically,” Ford said. “There’s definitely a learning that we’ve got to deal with expectations. We went into the Six Nations as one of the favourites, so [we need to] deal with that and the pressure in games. As we did a bit the previous autumn, working our way through it to come out the other end.
“In the Six Nations, I felt that pressure came on, and it turned into even greater pressure, which ended up in a catastrophic event, like a yellow card or conceding seven, 14 points. Against Scotland we went down two or three tries. Same against Ireland.
“That pressure then affects the way you move, how engaged and urgent you are, concentration, which leads to you not running hard or far enough. Our collisions become a bit softer. These are not excuses. This is stuff we’ve had to really front up to.”
