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'Standout traits': The Leicester reaction to Ford's England recall
Steve Borthwick reckons George Ford owes his England call-up after ten months away from the international squad to his relentless approach to pre-season training with Leicester last summer and the consistency he has gone on to show in everything he has done since then. Until Monday’s official recall by Eddie Jones, there were fears that the 28-year-old could become the new Sam Simmonds of English rugby.
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The Exeter No8 went nearly four years without an England appearance, getting repeatedly excluded from Test selection from March 2018 through to November 2021 despite his stellar form in recent seasons.
Ford’s exclusion was considerably less, dating back to his start against Ireland in last year’s Six Nations. Yet despite being the Gallagher Premiership’s form player – never mind being the top player at out-half – this season, that wasn’t enough for him to gain selection in the 36-strong England squad announced last week by Jones who instead saw fit to pick uncapped youngster Orlando Bailey along with his new favourite Marcus Smith.
In the end, it took an injury setback to skipper Owen Farrell to pave the way for the recall of Ford and he is now at the England training camp in Brighton trying to force his way up a pecking order where Smith has started four of the last five Test matches with George Furbank wearing the No10 against Tonga in November when Farrell was forced into isolation.
“One of the standout traits of George Ford is consistency every single day in training hard and trying to get better,” explained Leicester boss Borthwick about his player’s England recall. “The consistency in the level of his performance has been exceptional so you know with George Ford that is what you get, the consistency of his attitude, the desire to help the team. It’s unquestionable and I can’t praise him highly enough.
Ex-England boss Lancaster has taken a deep dive into one aspect where he feels Andy Farrell's Ireland have it much better than Eddie Jones' England… #England #Ireland #SixNationshttps://t.co/LRw6NPd1p2
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) January 25, 2022
“I have no doubt that George will be incredibly professional and train really well as all players do because they want to be the best players there, they want to be the best they can be and they want to earn their chance in a matchday 23 with England so I have no doubt that is how he will be.
“The work he did last summer, to come back from the knock he had, to get himself as sharp as he is and to then perform the way he has for Leicester Tigers, he has just got on with just performing as well as he can and helping the team, so I am very grateful to what he has done and I feel very privileged to be able to work with him.
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“We have certainly spoken to him (since his England recall). I’m delighted that he has been picked into the England squad. Now what you have got to do, as every player knows, getting into the squad is one thing and he will I’m sure want to put his best foot forward to push his case for selection for the matchday team.”
Borthwick wouldn’t entertain the debate over why Ford had been excluded by England from their recent squad. What he was happier to explore was the influence that the 77-cap international has had on a revitalised Leicester squad that is leading the Gallagher Premiership and finished as the No1-ranked qualifier from their twelve-team Champions Cup pool.
“I’m very happy to comment on his call-up – I’m delighted for him. He has worked exceptionally hard. He is a proud Englishman and I have seen him want to do really well for the Leicester Tigers and really well for England, so I am delighted for him to be called up. He has played exceptionally well this season.
“He had a knock at the end of last season and it carried for a long period. He has worked very hard to get back to full fitness, full sharpness through the pre-season and this season he has looked very sharp.
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“He is fearlessly competitive, he wants to do really well for Leicester Tigers, he is passionate about England and he is really supportive of young players to try and help them as well. I can’t praise his professionalism enough.
“I see it on a daily basis. He is one of the very last players to leave the training field, one of the very first players on it and the amount of time he spends with younger players helping them, the amount of time he gives his experience and his knowledge, he is giving it to everybody else. He does that really generously and he is a fantastic team man.”
The belated inclusion of Ford for the injured Farrell upped the Leicester representation in the England squad to six, one more than the next-best Harlequins and Exeter. For Borthwick, it’s a statistic he understandably likes.
“I’m delighted for all the players that have been picked,” he enthused, Ford joining Ellis Genge, Joe Heyes, Ollie Chessum, Ben Youngs and Freddie Steward at England camp in Brighton. “We are all really proud of them and I want as many players as possible achieving all their personal ambitions.”
Comments on RugbyPass
After their 5/0 start, I had the Crusaders to finish Top 4 only…they lost the plot in Perth but will reload and back themselves vs 4th placed Rebels…
3 Go to commentsBoth nations missed a great opportunity to book a game that would have had a lot of interest from around the world. I understand these games can’t be organised in 5 minutes but they should have found a way to make it happen. I don’t think Wales are ducking anyone but it’s a bad look haha.
3 Go to commentsIt will be fascinating to see the effect that Jo Yapp has. If they can compete with Canada and give BFs a run for their money that will be progress
1 Go to commentsFollowing his dream and putting in the work. Go well young fella!
3 Go to commentsPerhaps filling Twickenham is one of Mitchell’s KPIs. I doubt whether both September matches will be at Twickenham on consecutive weekends. I would take the BF one to a large provincial stadium so as not to give them the advantage and experience of playing at Twickenham before a large crowd prior to the RWC.
2 Go to commentsvery unfortunate for Kitshoff, but big opportunity potentially for Nché to prove he is genuinely the best loosehead in the world, rather than just a specialist finisher. Presuming that if Kitshoff is out, it will also give Steenekamp a chance to come into the 23? Or are others likely to be ahead of him?
1 Go to commentsA long held question in popular culture asks if art imitates life or does the latter influence the former? Over this 6 nations I can ask the same question of the media influencing the thoughts of its audience or vice versa. Nobody wants to see cricket scores in rugby, as a spectacle it is not sustainable. With so many articles about England’s procession and lack of competition it feeds the epicaricacy of many looking for an opportunity to pounce. England are not the first team to dominate nor does it happen only in rugby, think Federer, Nadal, Red Bull or Mercedes, Manchester Utd, Australia in tests and World Cups. Instead of celebrating the achievements why find reasons to falsify it pointing towards larger playing pool, professional for a longer period or mitigate with the lack of growth in other nations. Can we not enjoy it while it is here and know that it won’t last for ever, others coveting what England have will soon take the crown, ask the aforementioned?
6 Go to commentsShame he won’t turn out for the Netherlands now they’re improving. U20s are Euro champs and in the U20 Trophy this year. The senior sides gets better every year too.
3 Go to commentsWill rugbypass tv be showing these games?
1 Go to commentsWell where do you start, the fact that England have a professional domestic league and Ireland’s is fully amatuer, that they have fully seperated professional squads at Fifteens and Sevens (7’s thinly disguised as GB), and Ireland have fully pro Sevens squad who loan some players back to the Semi-Professional Fifteens squad (moved from amateur for only a year or so) for a few games at 6N & RWC’s. The Women’s games is a shambles, and is at risk of killing itself by pushing for professionalism when the market isn’t really there to support it outside one or two countnries..
6 Go to commentsWayne Smith's input didn't have as much impact on the last final as Davison's red card for Thompson. England were 14 points up and flying when that happened.
6 Go to commentsBilly's been playing consistently well for 2 - 3 seasons now and deserves a look in at the top level. Ioane and ALB are still first choice but there needs to be injury cover and succession. His partnership with Jordie gives him first dibs you'd think. Go the Hurricanes.
3 Go to commentsIt’s not up to Wales to support Georgian Rugby. That’s up to International Rugby and Georgia. I sympathise with Georgia’s decent attempt to create this fixture. But for Wales the proposed match up is just a potential stick to beat them with and a potential big psychological blow that young Welsh team doesn’t need. (I’m Irish BTW.)
3 Go to commentsCale certainly looks great in space, but as you say, he has struggled in contact. At 23 years old, turning 24 this year, he should be close to full physical maturity and yet there exists a considerable gap in the power and physicality required for international rugby. Weight doesn’t automatically equate to power and physicality either. Can he go from a player who’s being physically dominated in Super rugby to physically dominating in international rugby in 1 or 2 years? That’s a big ask but he may end up being a late bloomer.
29 Go to commentsIf rugby wants to remain interesting in the AI era then it will need to work on changing the rules. AI will reduce the tactical advantage of smart game plans, will neutralize primary attacking weapons, and will move rugby from a being a game of inches to a game of millimetres. It will be about sheer athleticism and technique,about avoiding mistakes, and about referees. Many fans will find that boring. The answer is to add creative degrees of freedom to the game. The 50-22 is an example. But we can have fun inventing others, like the right to add more players for X minutes per game, or the equivalent of the 2-point conversion in American football, the ability to call a 12-player scrum, etc. Not saying these are great ideas, but making the point that the more of these alternatives you allow, the less AI will be able to lock down high-probability strategies. This is not because AI does not have the compute power, but because it has more choices and has less data, or less-specific data. That will take time and debate, but big, positive and immediate impact could be in the area of ref/TMO assistance. The technology is easily good enough today to detect forward passes, not-straight lineouts, offside at breakdown/scrum/lineout, obstruction, early/late tackles, and a lot of other things. WR should be ultra aggressive in doing this, as it will really help in an area in which the game is really struggling. In the long run there needs to be substantial creativity applied to the rules. Without that AI (along with all of the pro innovations) will turn rugby into a bash fest.
24 Go to commentsSouth Africa rarely play Ireland and France on these tours. Mostly, England, Scotland and Wales. I wonder why
2 Go to commentsIt was a let’s-see-what-you're-made-of type of a game. The Bulls do look good when the opposition allows them to, but Munster shut them down, and they could not find a way through. Jake should be very worried about their chances in the competition.
2 Go to commentsHats off to Fabian for a very impressive journey to date. Is it as ‘uniquely unlikely’ as Rugby Pass suggests, given Anton Segner’s journey at the Blues?
3 Go to commentsSad that this was not confirmed. When administrators talk about expanding the game they evidently don’t include pathways to the top tier of rugby for teams outside of the old boys club. Rugby deserves better, and certainly Georgia does.
3 Go to commentsLions might take him on if they move on Van Rooyen but I doubt he will want to go back, might consider it a step backwards for himself. Sharks would take him on but if Plumtree goes on to win the challenge cup they will keep him on. Also sharks showing some promising signs recently. Stormers and Bulls are stable and Springboks are already filled up. Quality coach though, interesting to see where he ends up
1 Go to comments