George Ford believes he has sharpened his attacking instincts after he was ousted by Danny Cipriani as England’s fly-half, but denied that losing his place was “a wake-up call”.
Cipriani made his first England start in a decade in the third Test against South Africa in June with Ford dropping out of the squad altogether. Cipriani, despite his arrest on Gloucester’s pre-season trip to Jersey, has also started the season in superb form and had a hand in three of Gloucester’s four tries against Bath – including a remarkable looped pass for Matt Banahan’s late score – again in front of Eddie Jones.
Ford, meanwhile, was the architect of Leicester’s rampant 49-33 win over Newcastle, scoring the opening try and finishing with a personal haul of 29 points. While Cipriani is currently in possession of the England No 10 jersey, it remains to be seen whom Jones will turn to for England’s opening autumn international on 3 November against South Africa. But Ford does not appear to consider himself to have slipped down the pecking order.
“I don’t think it was a wake-up call for me at all,” said Ford, who started the two defeats by South Africa. “I was more than happy with the way I played in the summer. I think Eddie went for that decision from his gut-instinct point of view.
“You respect that. A big focus for me was running with the ball a bit more and being a bit more threatening which I was quite pleased about [against Newcastle].”
Leicester’s George Ford starts try-fest in wild win against Newcastle
Manu Tuilagi was also on the scoresheet against Newcastle with a superb try, racing over from inside his own half and making the kind of impact so rarely seen amid his well-documented injury problems over the last few years. Ford erred on the side of caution when asked if Tuilagi could return to the England set-up this autumn but believes Tuilagi can still be a “world-class” operator for club and country.
“If you ask him he just wants to continually play and week after week get better and better,” added Ford. “The one thing I would say is that Manu at his best is world-class. If we can keep giving him the right sort of ball, I’m sure he’ll put his best foot forward.”
Sam Simmonds has been backed to break into the England side again by his Exeter head coach, Ali Hepher. Simmonds has hit the ground running this season and scored two tries in Exeter’s thrilling 42-31 win at Wasps to go with the one he scored on the opening weekend of the season against Leicester.
“The England coaches will look at performances on the field and he’s putting in some quality ones,” said Hepher. “What he lacks maybe in height, he’s a thick-set guy and a powerful guy. He can carry through people, he can stop-tackle low. He’s been up their with the best back-rowers in the country over the past two weeks.”