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'Everything said between him and a player is confidential. I was obviously disappointed'

By PA
(Photo by PA)

George Ford hopes finally shaking off a season-long Achilles niggle can help force a quick-fire England recall.

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The Leicester fly-half revealed his disappointment at missing out on Eddie Jones’ England training squad, then quickly plotted his route back to the Test arena.

Ford has already responded to his England omission in the best possible way, producing three scintillating performances as Leicester opened the new Gallagher Premiership campaign with three straight wins.

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And now the 28-year-old hopes he can hit the best form of his career, to benefit both club and country.

“I spoke to Eddie Jones, we’ve been keeping in contact,” said Ford. “I saw him twice in the off-season and spoke to him before the camp.

“Obviously everything that’s said between him and a player is confidential. I was obviously disappointed, for any England camp you want to be involved.

“But whether I was there or not, I want to do the same thing I do every day, which is to get better and do my job for Leicester.

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“I’m trying to do that as best I can and that’s been my main focus really.

“My job is to go out there and play as well as I can; play as well as I can for Leicester, hopefully keep on winning with Leicester and keep on improving my individual game and us as a team.

“Selection is always out of our control, that’s why Eddie’s in that job, that’s his job.

“I’ve just got to look after my job and do it as well as I can, and hopefully good things will come off the back of that.

“I’d be lying to say the Achilles hadn’t been inhibiting me.

“I could get to game day and I could play, and it would be sore but manageable.

“But it was what I did in the week, that’s the biggest thing – if you want to play your best at the weekend and keep improving, then you need to train as well as you can and keep pushing it in training.

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“And that’s where I wasn’t at. I had to do what I could, manage it a bit more. But it’s just that feeling of not being able to get out there and attack it.

“I’m feeling good now though and feeling the difference.”

Harlequins star Marcus Smith was among the fly-halves named in the England training squad ahead of Ford, but Leicester’s experienced campaigner harbours plenty of belief in bidding to reverse his Test situation.

Ford said: “I’m hopefully not too old yet! I’m 28 and the biggest thing has been trying to get this injury right so I can try to hit the ground running again.

George Ford
(Photo by Steve Bardens – RFU/The RFU Collection via Getty Images)

“I’m in a good place, I’m loving my rugby at Leicester and it’s great the other guys are playing well as well.

“It makes you want to improve yourself and play well for Leicester. Everything beyond that will take control of itself. That’s obviously beyond our control. That’s where I’m at.

“You’ve seen it many times before where the guys at the top of the game have come into the best years of their career in and around 30, because they’ve got that experience, they’ve learned so many things along the way.

“So I’m excited about it, I feel great, I’m 28, I’ve played a fair bit of rugby up to this point. But I’m very confident and determined that I can keep getting better.”

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J
Jon 1 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

34 Go to comments
j
john 4 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

But here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.

15 Go to comments
A
Adrian 6 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

Thanks Nick The loss of players to OS, injury and retirement is certainly not helping the Crusaders. Ditto the coach. IMO Penny is there to hold the fort and cop the flak until new players and a new coach come through,…and that's understood and accepted by Penny and the Crusaders hierarchy. I think though that what is happening with the Crusaders is an indicator of what is happening with the other NZ SRP teams…..and the other SRP teams for that matter. Not enough money. The money has come via the SR competition and it’s not there anymore. It's in France, Japan and England. Unless or until something is done to make SR more SELLABLE to the NZ/Australia Rugby market AND the world rugby market the $s to keep both the very best players and the next rung down won't be there. They will play away from NZ more and more. I think though that NZ will continue to produce the players and the coaches of sufficient strength for NZ to have the capacity to stay at the top. Whether they do stay at the top as an international team will depend upon whether the money flowing to SRP is somehow restored, or NZ teams play in the Japan comp, or NZ opts to pick from anywhere. As a follower of many sports I’d have to say that the organisation and promotion of Super Rugby has been for the last 20 years closest to the worst I’ve ever seen. This hasn't necessarily been caused by NZ, but it’s happened. Perhaps it can be fixed, perhaps not. The Crusaders are I think a symptom of this, not the cause

15 Go to comments
T
Trevor 9 hours ago
Will forgotten Wallabies fit the Joe Schmidt model?

Thanks Brett.. At last a positive article on the potential of Wallaby candidates, great to read. Schmidt’s record as an international rugby coach speaks for itself, I’m somewhat confident he will turn the Wallaby’s fortunes around …. on the field. It will be up to others to steady the ship off the paddock. But is there a flaw in my optimism? We have known all along that Australia has the players to be very competitive with their international rivals. We know that because everyone keeps telling us. So why the poor results? A question that requires a definitive answer before the turn around can occur. Joe Schmidt signed on for 2 years, time to encompass the Lions tour of 2025. By all accounts he puts family first and that’s fair enough, but I would wager that his 2 year contract will be extended if the next 18 months or so shows the statement “Australia has the players” proves to be correct. The new coach does not have a lot of time to meld together an outfit that will be competitive in the Rugby Championship - it will be interesting to see what happens. It will be interesting to see what happens with Giteau law, the new Wallaby coach has already verbalised that he would to prefer to select from those who play their rugby in Australia. His first test in charge is in July just over 3 months away .. not a long time. I for one wish him well .. heaven knows Australia needs some positive vibes.

21 Go to comments
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