On a warm summer’s evening in Quinta do Lago, a couple of stools were set up in the team room at Sale’s training camp for An Audience with George Ford.
Alex Sanderson created a PowerPoint presentation about the fly-half, offering him a grandstand introduction as he sat down for a Q&A with his own team-mates. They spent almost an hour picking his brains.
It was a mark of respect for the 32-year-old who, with less than a month until the autumn internationals, is the man in possession of England’s No 10 jersey.
Ford was the only one of England’s four leading fly-halves left out of the Lions squad that toured Australia. But rather than this knock his standing, his stock has risen – he steered his country to victory in Argentina, where he collected caps No 100 and 101, before another victory in the US and has stepped up in the early rounds of the PREM for Sale.
England’s new attack coach Lee Blackett is due to meet Ford at Sale on Tuesday, with the fly-half ‘in the form of his life’ according to those he works with day in, day out.
‘When we were on tour in Portugal for pre-season, I built Fordy up for this Q&A like you see at one of those sportsman’s dinners,’ Sanderson told Daily Mail Sport. ‘The lads wanted to know what drives him, what his processes are, how he reflects… a lot of the questions they might feel uncomfortable asking him in a normal environment.
George Ford has seized control of England’s No 10 shirt ahead of the autumn internationals
Ford has been in electric form for Sale in the opening weeks of the season, orchestrating a 57-5 win over Newcastle Red Bulls last weekend
‘You wouldn’t normally do that with one of your own team-mates, would you? But if you’re looking for an individual who pitches up every day, drives everyone to the first huddle on a Monday morning, then there’s no better example than Fordy. Seriously. When you ask him a question, he’s so certain of the answer. He has that conviction.
‘He’s in the form of his life. That’s saying something when you look at his catalogue of achievements. This is a guy who has played in a World Cup final and has over 100 caps. He just makes the right decisions. If England want someone who is going to win in Test rugby, Fordy’s your man.’
It is hard to disagree with Sanderson’s convictions, having watched Ford lead a ruthless 57-5 demolition of Newcastle Red Bulls on Friday. Ford’s decision to extend his contract with Sale until 2029 is underpinned by his ambitions to play at the World Cup in Australia in two years’ time.
He is going nowhere, despite being sounded out by the disruptors at R360, and could well become England’s record caps-holder by the time they fly out Down Under. Ford is currently joint-sixth on 102, 25 behind all-time No 1 Ben Youngs.
The World Cup draw is scheduled to take place days after the autumn series, in which England face Australia, Fiji, New Zealand and Argentina at Twickenham.
Teams are jostling for position in the world rankings and England can ill-afford a couple of cheap defeats that might see them drop out of the top six, which would mean they miss out on one of the top-seed spots in the expanded 24-team World Cup.
Monday’s updated standings moved them into fifth, narrowly behind France, but a defeat by either Argentina (sixth) or Australia (seventh) this autumn would be a hammer blow.
Consistency will be key for Steve Borthwick this autumn, meaning it is not the time to make revolutionary changes to their attacking set-up.
England attack coach Lee Blackett will visit Ford this week with the 32-year-old in the form of his life
At club level, Blackett is a coach who has demonstrated an appetite for keeping the ball alive. He has enjoyed success coaching Finn Russell and Danny Cipriani, two fly-halves who thrive in unstructured scenarios.
However, international defences are more difficult to break down. Blackett is a self-confessed student of the game, spending hours studying footage of other teams, admitting his fear of becoming a ‘dinosaur’.
Recent emphasis in the Test arena has been on transition play, rather than the attritional approach of holding onto the ball for a high-number of phases.
The influence of running playmakers grew during the recent Rugby Championship, with the likes of Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu cutting open defences in the No 10 jersey for the Springboks.
That plays into the hands of Marcus Smith, who remains England’s most dangerous playmaker for breaking the line.
With George Furbank yet to play this season, Borthwick could be short on ball-playing full-backs, meaning Marcus Smith will be hard to leave out the picture, be it at No 10, No 15 or No 23.
He made an instant impact on his return for Harlequins on Sunday, undoing Owen Farrell’s Saracens with an onslaught of kicks that is not associated with his club’s DNA.
It is evidence to Borthwick that perhaps Smith can offer another dimension at Test level, in tandem with Ford or Fin Smith.
Springbok fly-half Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu is leading the way as modern rugby shifts towards a more transitional style
Marcus Smith was in excellent form on his Harlequins return on Sunday, scoring a try and outplaying Saracens with his kicking game
Fin Smith had the England shirt during the Six Nations, but could not make his mark on the Lions tour
Fin Smith was marginalised on the Lions tour – playing five warm-up matches but not making a single Test squad as Russell made the 10 shirt his own – but he has also committed his future to his country, signing an extension with Northampton alongside England’s first-choice No 9, Alex Mitchell.
Fin’s influence during the Six Nations was impressive, but Northampton have lacked the consistency they showed in their title-winning season of 2023-24. He will be hungry to deliver a couple of statement performances now he is back from his rest period.
And Farrell? His absence from the recent EPS squads has been telling. He is yet to start a game at No 10 for Saracens, so it would be a surprise to see him feature at this weekend’s training camp.
England have an abundance of riches but, for now, it very much looks like the No 10 shirt is Ford’s to lose.
