Sale verdict on George Ford with the Six Nations just four weeks away

Alex Sanderson has backed the winter club form of George Ford, claiming the No10 England shirt for the upcoming Guinness Six Nations is a straight contest between the Sale out-half and Harlequins’ Marcus Smith.

Ford came back into the Test-level reckoning last August, starting his first match for England since March 2021, and he went on to start in the opening round at the Rugby World Cup, kicking all his team’s 27 points in their impressive pool win over Argentina in Marseille which included a 10-minute drop goal hat-trick.

Owen Farrell’s suspension opened up the selection at the time to Ford and while he spent October on the bench at France 2023, he has arrived into 2024 with his chances of regaining the No10 shirt enhanced by Farrell’s decision to take a Test rugby sabbatical.

Ford has started seven games back at Sale since England’s bronze medal finish in Paris and ahead of Friday’s game at home to Bristol, which he will miss due to a knee injury, club director of rugby Sanderson has reflected on his player’s form in recent months with the February 3 Six Nations opener away to Italy now just over four weeks away.

“George’s form is always consistently high,” he said in reply to a query from RugbyPass at the midweek Sale media briefing. “He is one of the lads whose worst game and best game, there is not a lot of difference. That is what makes him such a quality professional and asset to your club.

“In the games we have played, he has played really well and has been pivotal in terms of his tactical decision-making and kicking. Like, no one can argue with that – he is the best in the game at that barring Owen on his day but Owen is out of the question.

“Similarly I think he has come on as a leader; England do as well. And certain aspects of his game which we are still looking to grow here at the club are ones I think he wants to improve upon, like his ability to attack the line, to shift the point of contact and to be a threat himself. We have seen elements of that.

“I think his game is in good shape generally speaking. Whether or not he has been at his best every week I think that has also ebbed and flowed with our own form, so he is not totally to blame on that. He has got to be in with a firm shout.

"There are only two of them really for me to pick from as well. Fin Smith has been going well but those two, Marcus Smith and him with the experience they have got and the variety that they can have in different ways, puts them up there for us.”

Ford, who turns 31 in March, is midway through his second season at Sale. He signed a two-plus-one-year deal with the Manchester club when he switched from Leicester in the summer of 2022 and is expected to soon confirm he will be staying at AJ Bell for that third season and won’t activate a clause in his contract to leave if he wanted to at the end of year two.

Sale reached the Premiership final last season, their first since 2006, and they are again challenging to make the end-of-year play-offs with Ford proving an increasing vocal influence regarding how Sanderson’s squad goes about its business.

“One of our big focuses this season has been our efficiency and effectiveness at communication, that’s player-coach, player-player stuff as a leaders group, how they can ascertain what is needed and thin slice the comms to the wider group,” explained Sanderson about Ford’s growing leadership.

“There have been a few occasions where his reflection and honesty have forced us to grow. A distinct lack of leadership, good leadership at Quins and Exeter were both highlighted, particularly in the Exeter game from him. They took that and I’m taking it by way of my message in the week saying we need to be better.

“And so as a result of that, there is a more equal share of communication, that communication is more intentional so we have leaders on every session knowing what they are driving.

"At the weekend just an example (the 17-21 loss at Northampton), he is like, ‘Look, 65 minutes in, 17-14 up, this is a pressure moment in a big game of which we are going to face again hopefully towards the back end of the season’.

“He is like, ‘The question we need to ask is how can we be better as a leaders group, what kind of leaders group do we want to be in this moment’ and that is coming from him, that is how we opened up on Monday morning and they have come up with solutions with that which I’m really happy and it’s player-driven that, it’s George Ford driven.”