Confident pack will front up and get us quality ball - Ford

LEICESTER fly-half George Ford is relishing his return to Welford Road and linking up with old mates Ben Youngs and Manu Tuilagi – plus England pal Jonny May.

Ford, 24, back in Leicester after four seasons at Bath, is confident new boss Matt O’Connor can lead the team back to glory days.

He said: “The last time I was here, Matt O’Connor, Ben, Manu and (head of strength and conditioning) Alex Martin were here too, so it’s like coming back to where I was four years ago.

“It’s nice to see familiar faces and there is not much that has changed at the training ground either.

“But there are a lot of new faces too and that is exciting. We have some real pace in the side now and it is my job to get the ball to them.

“Under Matt’s leadership, we are going in the right direction to be a dangerous team. Matt has developed as a coach but there are still a lot of similarities to when he was here last time. “He formulates the game plan to fit the players we have got and to get the best out of the players we have.” Ford, below, added: “I agreed to come to Leicester just before Matt was announced but the guys kept in contact with me and told me what the club was thinking in terms of who they were looking to bring in. “We were successful when he was here so I was really pleased he came back. “From a fly-half ’s point of view, I like to play attacking rugby but he has installed a bit of the traditional Tigers of being physical and getting the forwards to front up and get the backs some good ball.”