Ford’s focus
How fly-half found his edge to regain the England No10 shirt
It was after a two-hour flight from King Shaka International airport to Cape Town in June last year that George Ford faced one of the defining moments of his career.
In the previous fortnight, Ford had started at fly-half in each of the first two of England’s Test matches against South Africa in Johannesburg and Pretoria.
On each occasion England had raced into a commanding lead only to crash to successive defeats that would cost them the series and heap more criticism on head coach Eddie Jones.
That 23-12 loss in Pretoria was England’s fifth successive Test defeat and the head coach, under increasing pressure from within the Rugby Football Union and the Premiership clubs, acted decisively.
It no longer mattered that Ford had started at fly-half in 28 out of the previous 30 Tests under Jones and his midfield partnership with Owen Farrell had been the fulcrum of the side that had won the Grand Slam in 2016 and the Six Nations the following year.
Instead, just over a year out from the World Cup, Ford was dropped and found himself out in the cold, with Jones opting to start Danny Cipriani at fly-half, with Owen Farrell staying at 12. Cipriani’s kick to Jonny May sealed a 25-10 win over the Springboks in Cape Town, easing the pressure on Jones but further shrouding Ford’s England future in doubt.
Ford, however, had already made a vow to himself that the disappointment would not overwhelm him.
It started with a phone call to his father Mike, the former England defence coach, now Leicester’s attack coach, just after the squad had arrived in Cape Town. Ford Snr recalled the conversation. “George was so disappointed,” he said. “In the two previous games England had built up two really good leads but for whatever reason lost the games and then Eddie had dropped him. “As a coach you look at players who have been dropped and obviously the way they train, the body language and the way they try to help the team.
“What you don’t want as a coach is the player who thinks about himself and sulks a little bit and complains that it is not their fault. They go through that grieving period of being dropped and they get their heads around it and realise the only way they can get back in the side is to go out and train well and show the attitude that is for the best of the team. “Sulking and feeling sorry for himself was completely the opposite way to do that. So we basically talked about not grieving. For whatever reason, it is done. And the question was then, ‘How can he get back in the team as quickly as possible?’” That process began with an immediate reaction by Ford. Instead of sulking, he offered to run the water and goal-kicking tee during the match for Farrell despite the driving rain at the Newlands Stadium.
“I was so proud of him the way he was helping the team,” said Ford Snr. “Personally, he was so disappointed but still wanted the team to do well.”
Critically, that determination to fight his way back into the England side did not fade when Jones turned to Farrell to be his starting fly-half for the autumn Test series and Six Nations campaign. The only match Ford began in that period was the underwhelming win over Japan at Twickenham, when he briefly resumed his partnership with Farrell in the second half.
There is little doubt Ford’s situation was not helped by Leicester’s terrible season, which led to his father being parachuted into the club in March to help them stave off relegation fears. But once that was avoided, Ford focused on how he could regain his place ahead of the World Cup, spending much of his post-season five-week rest period writing a detailed plan of how he could improve his game.
“Last season was challenging for him and I know in the summer he made a plan to be the best prepared player he could be,” said Ford Snr. “It was not just a plan to go to the gym three times a week. It was a really detailed plan.
“He looked at his nutrition, his kicking, his sprinting, his strength and conditioning, his tactical awareness and his recovery. He looked at everything. He was, as we say, ‘all in’. All in to try to be the best player he can be so he can help England try to win the World Cup.
“He is very thorough in that way. He likes to recap what he has done and look back on each session. Did he achieve what he wanted to achieve. Yes – why? No – why? What can he do better.”
One key issue was his tactical play, with a greater focus on returning to the attacking instincts that made him World Young Player of the Year aged 18 in 2011.
“We reviewed a lot of his games and opportunities missed when he was being more of a team player,” said Ford Snr. “There is a balance there, because I don’t want this to come over the wrong way as George is anything but selfish.
“The way I sold it to him was him being more selfish actually helps the team. You can change the picture on defence. Defences are so good these days and you need players who can change the picture on them.
“Sometimes he had been looking at the solid line of defence and doing the percentage thing. When I see that, this is what you should do was his approach. I was trying to encourage him to think, you are actually the player who can change that picture defensively – whether it is with a run or a pass or a kick.”
Four years on from being dropped, as a 22-year-old, after England’s first match against Fiji in the World Cup 2015, the meticulous preparation has paid off. Not only has Ford reclaimed the starting fly-half spot in Japan but he was also man of the match against the United States and is spearheading England’s attacking game, with his performances overshadowing those of Farrell, now back at inside centre.
“It is about understanding the game, when to play off quick ball, what to do off slow ball, what to do when you are on a touchline, what to do when you are in the middle of the field, what do you in your half, what to do in their half,” added Ford Snr.
“When you couple those things with what the defensive line is showing us, the question is how to exploit that.
“You can do that by the way you control the ball. The way you manipulate the defence to show certain things. But my point to him, is that even if the defence is 100 per cent solid and it is looking like it is unbreachable, you can still change the picture. Your natural talent can do that.
“Sometimes teams wait for the perfect picture to attack. If your execution is good you can still break them.”