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Sale admit Ford contact: 'I have had a conversation with George'
Sale boss Alex Sanderson has admitted he has already had a conversation with George Ford about the possibility that the out-of-favour England out-half could join the Sharks for next season after it was confirmed that AJ MacGinty is on his way from Manchester to Bristol for the 2022/23 campaign. No sooner was it unveiled on Wednesday that the 31-year-old, Dublin-born American international would be linking up with the Bears did it emerge that Ford was now a target for Sale.
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The 28-year-old Ford has been in immense form this season at Leicester, responding magnificently to his painful England omission by going on to be voted the Gallagher Premiership player of the month for October. Ford is a regular visitor to his hometown of Saddleworth, which is just a short 24-mile spin away from Sale’s AJ Bell Stadium. He part-owns a coffee shop in the town with his brother Joe, while there is also the precedent that the out-half doesn’t sign an extension at a club that has released his father from their staff.
Mike Ford led Bath to the 2015 Premiership final but he soon lost his head coach job there and it was followed by George signing for Tigers in 2017. Mike has now left his defence coach position at Leicester after his contract wasn’t renewed last summer under Steve Borthwick and it has heightened the likelihood that the out-half will now also move on.
This type of switch from Leicester to Sale was something that Manu Tuilagi made in the summer of 2020 and Sanderson has now confirmed he has been in touch with Ford about the possibility of him switching to Sale for the 2022/23 season. He told a Thursday media briefing: “I have had a conversation with George, yeah. I felt it went well. Best off asking him. I like the lad, love what he is about. He is very driven, still very ambitious and he is a family man, so he has shown a lot of the traits that would align itself very well here. But there is more that comes into play in these situations. It is so complicated. That is why I can’t call it for him.”
TRANSFER: England outcast Ford tipped to join Alex Sanderson's Sale…#Sharks #GallagherPrem #Tigers #England https://t.co/vkZArDCAPU
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) November 11, 2021
The Ford link with Sale has ironically emerged in the same week that the Sharks are due to visit Leicester on Saturday for a Premiership Cup tie. Sanderson added that Sale’s location so close to Saddleworth is an advantage that could work in their favour. “Yes it does (matter he is a local), and probably more so for him but you would probably have to pick that up with him. The boy is from Saddleworth and it is a professional game – it isn’t just about the paycheque.
“I have said in the past what it means for me to be back (in Manchester) and to have some kind of influence on a place I was brought up and that is rare in this game, really rare. I feel very privileged. Anyone who comes from the north should want to use that factor if you are able to as an easy motivator and to make the north great.
“This (link with Ford) is all speculation and I don’t want to fan the fires. Just from my brief experience of agents or players saying one thing and then something happening completely differently the next day, I have no intention of counting chickens before they have hatched. I honestly couldn’t tell you.
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“We can only put our best case forward and let the chips fall where they may but it is a very positive case. We are a club with aspirations and investment and with good people involved so we are a strong runner. The rest is up to the other parties.”
Sanderson added that his chat with Ford was recent as was the confirmation to Sale by MacGinty that he was going to sign for Bristol. “Both of them very recently,” confirmed Sanderson about the discussions that took place with both out-halves.
“The confirmation with AJ was kind of Monday-ish but to be honest when someone is keen to remain at a place from my own experience at Saracens there was no negotiation, it was just like I am happy, I’m good, it doesn’t matter what you pay me because I am happy whereas there were sounds from his agent right from the off that this would be his last contract, so negotiations began around that and took the course where it has taken us.
“If I am being honest with myself looking back retrospectively, I could have picked up on some of those noises way back in September. When it happened I guess I wasn’t wholly surprised but I wholeheartedly accepted it… AJ is a brilliant lad and I have got a lot of time for the person he is, a great player as well playing probably some of his best rugby in his last twelve months here and as such he has gathered interest from organisations who want a ten of his quality.
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“He is at the point in the lifecycle of a player where it is important that he gets the most out of probably his last contract and he has unfortunately gone for a very lucrative deal down in Bristol. The success is we are all still amenable and have good relations still. Given the offer that was proposed, it’s probably the best thing for his family at this point in his career.
“We have looked at the need to fill the role. We have two very young lads [Kieran Wilkinson and Tom Curtis] who are going to be class as they progress. We have opened the door to negotiations with other fly-halves. It is a crucial area, a crucial position where you need someone of international class if you are ever going to challenge for silverware of which George Ford is one. He is world-class and is playing the best rugby he has played for a while as well. That is where we are at, the rest is speculation.”
Further cuts to the Premiership salary cap are planned for next season but Sanderson insisted that the possible arrival of Ford as a marquee player wouldn’t necessarily mean a deal couldn’t be extended with Lood de Jager, the Springboks lock whose deal expires next summer. “No, it doesn’t have to be one in, one out,” said the director of rugby who succeeded Steve Diamond as Sale boss last January.
“This whole recruitment process I am finding challenging but it is part of the job, something that I am determined to become good at because I understand the necessity for the succession, succession planning not just for this season but seasons beyond, and to be able to wear the best hat for the club and to switch those hats for what is best for the player and the person because sometimes the two are contradictory.
“That is the challenge that I am faced with, a brilliant challenge that is going to be the making of me as a coach moving forward, getting a handle on this. Then it is all part of the jigsaw. There are far smarter people out there with calculators who can tell me what you are allowed to spend, what you have to spend and then the ripple ramifications of getting in players with other people moving on. That is professional sport, that happens at every club every season and you have to stay on top of it.”
TEAM NEWS: Eddie Jones makes two XV changes but it's his decision regarding Manu Tuilagi's role that will spark most debate #England #ENGvAUS #AutumnNationsSeries #Wallabieshttps://t.co/Vr1DbfNmnp
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) November 11, 2021
Comments on RugbyPass
Beaches? In Cardiff? Where?
1 Go to commentsHe is right , the Crusaders will be a threat. Scott Barrett, ( particularly), Fergus Burke , Codie Taylor, ( from sabbatical) etc due back soon for the Crusaders. There are others like Zach Gallagher too. People can right the Crusaders off, Top 8 , here we come !!
1 Go to commentsWe will always struggle for money to match the other sides but the least the WRU can do is invest properly in Welsh rugby. Too much has been squandered on vanity projects like the hotel and roof walk amongst others which will never see a massive return. Hanging the 4 pro sides out to dry over the last decade is now coming back to bite the WRU financially as well as on the pitch. You reap what you sow.
1 Go to commentsWhat do you get if you cross a doctor with a fish? A plastic sturgeon
14 Go to commentsWhat happened to feleti Kaitu’u? Hasnt played in a while right?
1 Go to commentsGregor I just can’t agree with you. You are trying to find something that just isn’t there. Jordie Barrett has signed until 2028. By the end of that he would have spent probably 11-12 years on Super Rugby and you say he can’t possibly have one season playing somewhere else. It is absurd. What about this scenario, the NZR play hard ball and he decides to leave and play overseas. How would that affect the competition. There seems to be an agenda by certain journalists to push certain agendas and don’t like it when it’s not to their liking. I fully support the NZR on this. Gregor needs to get a life.
2 Go to commentsHope he stays as believe he can do a great job.
1 Go to commentsMake what step up? Manie has a World Cup winner’s medal around his neck and changed the way the Springboks can play. He doesn’t have anything to prove to anyone. The win record of the Boks with him in the team is tremendous. Sacha can be wonderful and I hope he has a very succesful Bok career, but comparing him to Manie in terms of the next Bok flyhalf is very strange. Manie is the incumbent (not the next) and doing pretty incredibly.
1 Go to comments00 😍 U
1 Go to commentsSabbaticals have helped keep NZ’s very best talent in the country on long term deals - this fact has been left out of this article. Much like the articles calling to allow overseas players to be selected, yet can only name one player currently not signed to NZR who would be selected for the ABs. And in the entire history of NZ players leaving to play overseas, literally only 4 or 5 have left in their prime as current ABs. (Piatau, Evans, Hayman, Mo’unga,?) Yes Carter got an injury while playing in France 16 years ago, but he also got a tournament ending injury at the 2011 World Cup while taking mid-week practice kicks at goal. Maybe Jordie gets a season-ending injury while playing in Ireland, maybe he gets one next week against the Brumbies. NZR have many shortcomings, but keeping the very best players in the country and/or available for ABs selection is not one of them. Likewise for workload management - players missing 2 games out of 14 is hardly a big deal in the grand scheme of things. Again let’s use some facts - did it stop the Crusaders winning SR so many times consecutively when during any given week they would be missing 2 of their best players? The whole idea of the sabbatical is to reward your best players who are willing to sign very long term deals with some time to do whatever they want. They are not handed out willy-nilly, and at nowhere near the levels that would somehow devalue Super Rugby. In this particular example JB is locked in with NZR for what will probably (hopefully) be the best years of his career, hard to imagine him not sticking around for a couple more after for a Lions tour and one more world cup. He has the potential to become the most capped AB of all time. A much better outcome than him leaving NZ for a minimum of 3 years at the age of 27, unlikely to ever play for the ABs again, which would be the likely alternative.
2 Go to commentsJake White talks more sense than anything I've read in the last 5 years. Hope someone's listening.
10 Go to commentsThe Springboks tried going down the road of only picking home-based players and it was an unmitigated disaster in 2016 and 2017. Picking overseas-based players has been one of the main reason the Boks have done so well since 2018, not only because of the quality Rassie could call on, but because of the knowledge and experience those players brought into camp from England, France and Japan. With some of the big names playing abroad it also gave younger players in SA the chance to break through at franchise level. Would we have seen the emergence of a Ruan Nortje if RG and Lood were still at the Bulls? Not so sure. I understand why Jake would want to block players leaving since his job depends on good results but it’s an approach that would take Bok rugby back to the bad old days and no South African wants to see that.
10 Go to commentsExeter were thumped by 38 points. And they only had to hop on a train.
39 Go to commentsI am De Groot.
1 Go to commentsHad hoped you might write an article on this game, Nick. It’s a good one. Things have not gone as smoothly for ROG since beating Leinster last year at the Aviva in the CC final. LAR had the Top 14 Final won till Raymond Rhule missed a simple tackle on the excellent Ntamack, and Toulouse reaped the rewards of just staying in the fight till the death. Then the disruption of the RWC this season. LAR have not handled that well, but they were not alone, and we saw Pau heading the Top 14 table at one stage early season. I would think one of the reasons for the poor showing would have to be that the younger players coming through, and the more mature amongst the group outside the top 25/30, are not as strong as would be hoped for. I note that Romain Sazy retired at the end of last season. He had been with LAR since 2010, and was thus one of their foundation players when they were promoted to Top 14. Records show he ended up with 336 games played with LAR. That is some experience, some rock in the team. He has been replaced for the most part by Ultan Dillane. At 30, Dillane is not young, but given the chances, he may be a fair enough replacement for Sazy. But that won’be for more than a few years. I honestly know little of the pathways into the LAR setup from within France. I did read somewhere a couple of years ago that on the way up to Top 14, the club very successfully picked up players from the academies of other French teams who were not offered places by those teams. These guys were often great signings…can’t find the article right now, so can’t name any….but the Tadgh Beirne type players. So all in all, it will be interesting to see where the replacements for all the older players come from. Only Lleyd’s and Rhule from SA currently, both backs. So maybe a few SA forwards ?? By contrast, Leinster have a pretty clear line of good players coming through in the majority of positions. Props maybe a weak spot ? And they are very fleet footed and shrewd in appointing very good coaches. Or maybe it is also true that very good coaches do very well in the Leinster setup. So, Nick, I would fully concurr that “On the evidence of Saturday’s semi-final between the two clubs, the rebuild in the Bay of Biscay is going to take longer than it is on the east coast of Ireland”
11 Go to commentsWhat was the excuse for the other knockout blowouts then? Does the result not prove the Saints were just so much better? Wise call to put your eggs in one basket when you’ve got 2 comps simultaneously finishing.
39 Go to commentsReally hope Kuruvoli and his partner rock the Canes.
1 Go to commentsI wonder what impact Samson has had on their attack, as the team seems less prone to trundle it up the middle, take the tackle and then trundle it up again. I lost faith in the coach last year as the Rebelss looked like a 2nd/3rd rate South African team. I also disliked Gordon standing back, often ignored as the forward battle went on and on. Maybe its our Aussie way of not getting off our A***’s until the enemy is at the gate.
86 Go to commentsThanks for the write up. Great to see the Rebs winning, I am a little interested in how they will go against the remaining kiwi teams, I think they’ve only played Hurricanes and Highlanders but how great to see these players performing!! I also see Parling has a job beyond June 30! A good move by RA? Also how do you fix the Rebels previously scratchy defence?
86 Go to commentsbe smart - go black
14 Go to comments