George Ford is standing against a table beneath the stand in Welford Road, his eye swollen and discoloured, feeling a little sorry for himself. The laceration is not his concern but the fact that Leicester have just been turned over by Ulster on a weekend in which the English clubs will come out second best. All that with Eddie Jones and his England team 14 days away from a visit to Dublin.
“Five stitches. I just banged heads with Brendan O’Connor in the first half. It had to be one of my own players didn’t it?” he says in an unhurried north of England drawl. “The structure around there is fine,” he adds pointing to his socket. “It is just a cut above the eyebrow.”
The England outhalf isn’t reading too much into the fall of the Premiership teams in the European Champions Cup. His own performance was less the breaking outhalf and more the passing and tackling player in the midfield. Ford passed 32 times compared to 18 from his opposite number Billy Burns. With 12 tackles, one of them missed and just one clean break there were positives and negatives.
It will be an almighty Test match in Dublin, but it will be completely different to what we have been playing in
But looking at the Premiership clubs for a view to what might happen in Dublin next Saturday is running a fool’s errand. Why would the England outhalf want to draw the sting of defeat at club level and bring it with him into England camp?
“I don’t think it plays any part,” says Ford. “It is not a great stat for the English teams but we will get together as a squad in Portugal and prepare as well as we can. It will be an almighty Test match in Dublin, but it will be completely different to what we have been playing in.
“It is just disappointing from a flyhalf point of view that you lose a game like that. There will be things to look at from my point of view and the team’s point of view. But I’m excited about what the next two-three weeks hold.”
Captain Owen Farrell is recovering from surgery to a thumb tendon but was selected to travel with the England team to their pre-Six Nations warm weather training camp. He will have to pass a fitness test in Vilamoura to convince Jones. If he doesn't, England will be down two of their first-choice captains in Farrell and Dylan Hartley, who also remains at home with a knee injury.
You only get one or two opportunities out there to score points and it is vital you take them. It is going to be a really traditional tough Test match
As Danny Cipriani has been overlooked for the Portugal trip, Ford could be forgiven for beginning to think of himself as the outhalf who will take to the pitch for England’s opening match in Aviva Stadium.
“It is always a contest,” he says. “And what I mean by a contest is whether from an aerial point of view or on the ground they are always brilliant in those areas. You only get one or two opportunities out there to score points and it is vital you take them. It is going to be a really traditional tough Test match.”
Ford has 50 English caps and in 2011 was the first English player to win the IRB Young Player of the Year award. In 2009, he also became the youngest player to make his professional debut in England, breaking the record of team-mate Farrell. He was just 16 years and 237 days old, when Leicester played against Leeds, his brother Joe starting at outhalf opposite him.
Farrell started at 10 against South Africa last November. But two years ago Ireland beat England 13-9 to deny them a Grand Slam with Ford playing at pivot and Farrell nudged out to the centre. Since then Ireland have added a Grand Slam and beaten the All Blacks.
“Regardless of that game (New Zealand), I think they are a brilliant team, especially at home,” he says. “I think the last 12-18 months in the way they have played and the results they have got speaks for itself. We understand the challenge ahead of us. We’re excited about what a challenge it is first game up, away from home and as we all know in the Six Nations if you win your first game then you are off, if you don’t then you are playing catch-up.”
