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Should Leicester fail to reach this year’s Premiership final they will have been floored by a familiar foe. George Ford spent two spells totalling nine years at Welford Road and made his Tigers first-team debut as a 16-year-old. It says everything about his enduring desire and dedication that, aged 32 and clad in the blue of Sale Sharks, his tactical decision-making grows sharper by the year.
Whether he is kicking teams to death or slicing them apart with his deft short passing game, the GF menu of fly-half skills remains rich and varied. His fellow squad members all regard him as a coach in waiting, so good is he at steering them around the field and managing pressure situations. When Michael Cheika, Leicester’s head coach, expressed bafflement at Ford’s omission from this year’s British and Irish Lions squad, he was by no means alone.
The only missing elements, arguably, have been more end-of-season trophies and greater public appreciation. Having been named world junior player of the year in 2011, Ford has subsequently had to jostle with the ultra-competitive Owen Farrell, the mercurial Marcus Smith and, latterly, the fast-rising Fin Smith. If the coming weeks yield a century of England caps – he is on 99 – and a first Premiership title for Sale since 2006 it would be due reward for his playmaking and perseverance.
Sitting in a London hotel lobby, all dressed up for this week’s Premiership awards, what comes across is his absolute determination to keep pushing himself. In theory it would be easy to nudge a single in Argentina next month, raise his bat and retreat to his northern pavilion to spend more time with his young family. In reality the cricketing metaphor doesn’t really fit – “I’ve never got to 99. Maybe nine trying to get to 10 …” – and there is still fire in his trim, tuxedo-ed belly.
Not for him, for example, a lucrative ticket to some over-hyped breakaway league that would prevent him from representing his country. Ford, a strong candidate to captain England against the Pumas in the absence of Maro Itoje et al, is still driven by more traditional ambitions. “For me the most privileged thing, the biggest honour, is playing for England. It always has been ever since I was a kid. I don’t think anything would make that change.
“You just can’t replicate the feeling. You’re representing your country in the biggest Test matches with the best players, in front of your family who’ve made a lot of sacrifices to help you get there. When you add all that into the mix that’s the ultimate.” While he would love to see Owen Farrell return to the Premiership – “to have him back would be great, wouldn’t it? Any league Owen Farrell is playing in can only benefit” – relocating to French club rugby was never his personal preference. “We know as players that if you don’t play in England you can’t play for England. To make that call, it’s got to be a good reason. If you still think you are good enough and then to call your own time on that … yeah, it would be significant.”
Also catapulting him from his bed every morning is the shared bond of the collective. While he likes the idea of fly-halves maturing like a fine wine – “that’s a nicer way of putting it than I usually get” – he is much more interested in communal satisfaction than individual glory. “The game is changing a little but this is the ultimate team game we’re playing. I want the team I’m playing in to be successful and to create a memory. That’s my biggest motivation. You crave that feeling.”
Looking back at his career, it is also possible to detect a hint of unfinished business on the eve of this year’s potentially gripping semi-final. Ford may have featured in five previous Premiership finals but three were defeats. Even his two triumphs, both for Leicester, were not exactly from central casting. In 2013 he was a replacement in a final best remembered for Dylan Hartley’s red card and in 2022 he departed injured in the first half, leaving Freddie Burns to seize the headlines with his dramatic late drop-goal.
Nor has he toured with the Lions, which is why missing out again this time would have stung. Typically, though, he has resisted the temptation “to have a little sulk” and focused on what he can control. “It shouldn’t really affect the way you are as a person. Even though you’re disappointed and gutted it certainly shouldn’t change the way you prepare every week and turn up to training. That’s what I pride myself on: how consistent I can be whether I get selected or not.”
The next eight days could yet offer some solace, particularly if Leicester and their World Cup-winning Springbok pivot Handré Pollard can be overcome. Ford, though, won’t be particularly relying on his local East Midlands knowledge. “I suppose it does bring back memories but it’s weird. You’re that focused on the game you don’t take them into consideration that much. It’s: ‘Right, let’s get the job done today.’ It’s quite a ruthless way of thinking but that’s what we need to do.”
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Experience has also taught him that, on the biggest days, the secret is to stay calm and keep things simple. “Knockout games are different, aren’t they? Everyone knows what’s riding on it. But ironically it’s not about big things or special things. It’s about how consistently well you can do the basics. Good things and special things will then come off that.”
There is more to Ford, though, than just an expert tactical brain. His wife, Atdhetare, left war-torn Kosovo as a refugee for a new life in Oldham and the couple now have a 15-month daughter, Alarnia. A visit to his wife’s homeland further opened his eyes to life beyond the touchline. “I went over for the first time last summer and loved it. Their family home is basically just a massive farm – middle of the field, no phone signal, best thing ever. I was even doing a bit of farming. I was like, ‘What’s going on here?’ It couldn’t be any further away from rugby.”
Coaching, though, will definitely claim him one day – “I think I’d love it, I just don’t want it to be too soon” – as it already has his father, Mike, and brothers Joe and Jacob. “You can’t go to a family event without dissecting a game. My mum hates it.” For the time being, though, there remain on-field targets beyond his impending century. “It wouldn’t be a case of getting to 100 and thinking ‘That’s it now, I can rest on my laurels’. It would be special and I’d be proud but it wouldn’t be me finished.
“I still believe – and I probably won’t ever not – that I can still play at the very top level. From a physical and mental point of view I have a massive desire to do that. I’ve nothing to prove to anyone specifically, it’s just about trying to influence the team I’m playing in, whether that’s Sale or England.” And if that means disappointing the Tigers’ faithful who once roared him on, so be it.
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