Ford linked with surprise switch to Sale
hsharks No10 Macginty agrees to join up with Lam at Bristol hleicester fly-half will be out of contract at end of season
Sale Sharks are increasingly confident of signing the England fly-half George Ford, who is mulling a surprise move away from Premiership leaders Leicester Tigers.
Ford is out of contract at Welford Road at the end of the season and The Daily Telegraph understands he has opened talks with Sale. While he is out of favour with England head coach Eddie Jones, Ford has been outstanding in Leicester’s unbeaten start to the season.
Sale, meanwhile, yesterday announced the departure of firstchoice fly-half AJ Macginty, who will join Bristol Bears next summer. They are likely to save further room in the salary cap with the expected exit of Springbok lock Lood de Jager this summer, back to South Africa.
The signing of Ford would be a significant statement of intent from Sale, who qualified for the play-offs under director of rugby Alex Sanderson last season. Not only is Ford arguably the Premiership’s form player, as well as the top marksman in the league to date with 107 points, but the Oldham-born playmaker would provide a sprinkling of local stardust for a club desperate to increase attendances at the AJ Bell Stadium.
The lure of returning to his northwest roots is understood to be a strong pull for Ford, who frequently returns to his home town of Saddleworth from his flat in Leicester.
The 28-year-old part-owns a coffee shop, Kobe Coffee, in Saddleworth with his brother, Joe. His father, Mike, left his role as Leicester defence coach in June. Mike’s departure as Bath head coach precipitated Ford’s move to Leicester in 2017.
The promotion of local youngsters has been a feature of Sanderson’s tenure to date. Raffi Quirke, the 20-year-old Chorlton-born scrum-half, is in contention to win his first England cap after impressing in the Premiership as Faf de Klerk’s understudy.
Yesterday, loosehead prop Bevan
Rodd, another graduate of the Sale academy, was called up by Eddie Jones as a replacement for Joe Marler.
Ford would also be joining fellow England internationals in Tom Curry and Manu Tuilagi were he to trade Leicester for Sale with the 2023 World Cup approaching.
Macginty will be teaming up again with Pat Lam at Bristol following their success together at Connacht. Macginty, the 31-year-old United States international, has
grown into an influential figure for Sale since arriving in 2016 but will be at Ashton Gate for the beginning of the 2022-23 campaign.
In a statement released by Bristol, Lam highlighted the likelihood that Callum Sheedy would be away with Wales and that Macginty could guide his side. “His game management, defensive qualities, kicking ability and all-round understanding of the way I like our teams to play is excellent,” Lam said of Macginty.
As it stands, Sale will still have Rob du Preez, Kieran Wilkinson and Tom Curtis as options at fly-half next year.
However, senior figures at the club are long-time admirers of Ford and are eager to finalise a deal as soon as possible. Sale face Leicester on Saturday in the Premiership Rugby Cup at Welford Road.
Last month, Ford revealed that a summer off, after Jones had elected to pick Marcus Smith for England’s July Tests against the US and Canada, had helped him to confront a longstanding Achilles injury. He said he was confident of continuing to produce on the field into his thirties.
“As a 10 you have seen it many times before where the guys at the top of the game are coming to the best years of their careers in and around 30,” Ford said. “They have got that experience and learnt so many things along the way to be one of the world’s top-class 10s. I am excited about it.”
He certainly seems to be enjoying a new lease of life. Ford followed up his man-of-the-match display in a 55-26 thrashing of Northampton by amassing 25 points as Tigers beat Bath 40-23 last Friday.
Losing Ford would surely cause Leicester to recruit a front-line flyhalf, although the popular Freddie Burns, himself an England international, rejoined the club over the summer following a brief yet lucrative stint in Japan. So far this Premiership season, Burns’s only Premiership starts have come at full-back.