What Sale have said about injury that forced George Ford off early

England fly-half George Ford will undergo tests on Monday to determine the extent of the injury he sustained during Sale’s 45-26 Gallagher Premiership defeat at Saracens. Ford was forced out of the action just seven minutes into the clash at StoneX Stadium, leaving the pitch soon after attempting a long-range penalty.

Sharks physio Navdeep Sandhu said of the 31-year-old playmaker – who missed England’s summer tour of Japan and New Zealand with a damaged achilles – after the match: “Yeah, so George just felt his quad when he went for that long-distance kick.

“He thought like he felt he could carry on, but it was just slightly aware of it and I suspected that that meant it would get worse and worse and worse as the game carried on. So we decided to make the change. We just had a look at him in the changing room and he is a little bit sore.

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“It is not too bad and we will get some imaging on that on Monday morning. It is probably too early to say [how severe his injury is], the fact we are getting an image of it means we are suspecting something. But we probably do not know enough.”

Sharks boss Alex Sanderson has also been in the wars, suffering a rib injury after a collision with one of his players in training. Sandhu added: “Alex got ran into by a player and to be fair, the player did not make the gain line, but Alex got a couple of rib fractures for his troubles so he will be top of the list on Monday morning. It was Tom Roebuck, he did not make the gain line.”

An early blow for @SaleSharksRugby as George Ford limps off with an injury ?#GallagherPrem | #SARvSAL pic.twitter.com/moZkDLvfKl

— Rugby on TNT Sports (@rugbyontnt) September 28, 2024

Saracens eventually ran out winners to make it two wins from two this season, but boss Mark McCall admits he was disappointed with his side’s first-half performance. The hosts trailed 13-12 at the break after Gus Warr crossed the whitewash, but two tries from Elliot Daly and fine finishes from Tobias Elliott and Jamie George wrapped up a comeback win for Saracens.

Alex Lozowski took over kicking duties for Sarries in place of Owen Farrell, who joined French giants Racing 92 in the summer, and he slotted over 22 points from the tee in a superb display. “I thought Sale had a lot to contend with, losing a player like George Ford early doors was really tough for them,” he said.

“It was a proper contest for 50 minutes or so and we were a little bit disappointed with just overall how we were in the first half. Our energy was not quite at the levels that we would want it to be at, but we thought that improved significantly in the second half and we were able to build a lot of pressure in the second against a good team. So we obviously got some things right.”

Regarding Lozowski’s performance, McCall said: “Yeah, he is one of those people who was just waiting to emerge as one of the voices in the squad. He had a really strong pre-season on and off the field. He is playing well and I think he enjoys the responsibility of goal-kicking.”