Gallagher Premiership Rugby FInal 2022

LEICESTER TIGERS V SARACENS
DID YOU
KNOW?
Ford played rugby
league from the age
of five, switching to
union at 11.
His father Mike
was a rugby league
legend, playing for
clubs like Wigan,
Castleford and
Oldham.
He was the first
Englishman to win
the World Rugby
Junior Player of the
Year.
But it has been his consistency
that has impressed the most,
mirroring his team’s winning
regularity.
Seven games and seven
wins on from that seven-try
deconstruction of Saints and
another Player of the Month
was on its way to Ford’s
mantelpiece.
Such were his performances
that, by the turn of the
year, and with Borthwick’s
steamroller showing little sign
of stopping, Eddie Jones could
no longer ignore the 29-yearold.
A recall to the England squad
for the Six Nations was the
least Ford deserved, given his
exceptional club form.
The outside-half now has 84
senior international caps since
his debut against Wales in the
Six Nations as a 20-year-old.
But his first taste of club rugby
for Tigers came in November
2009, breaking the record as
the youngest to make their
professional rugby debut in
England.
His older brother Joe was also
making his debut at fly-half
and put in a man-of-thematch
performance, scoring
13 points.
But George, son of former
England defence coach
and Tigers assistant Mike,
grew in stature as the years
progressed, both in terms of
size and reputation.
His potential was recognized
when he won the World Rugby
Junior Player of the Year in
2011 and, a year later, he had
his hands on silverware in the
form of the Anglo-Welsh Cup.
By the time he joined Bath in
the summer of 2013, he was
already regarded as having
a mature head on relatively
young shoulders.
His former Bath teammate
Dave Attwood commented
at the time: “If you looked
at him in the street you’d
ID him for a packet of fags,
but to hear him speak in
a meeting and command
everyone on the field, you’d
think he was a 35-year-old
veteran.”
Only Harlequins’
Nick Evans reached
1,500 Premiership
points in fewer
games.
He has four Six
Nations titles for
England and started
in the 2019 World
Cup final.
chance to win their first title
for 19 years.
His opposite number that day
was Owen Farrell, and the two
have been vying for supremacy
all their careers, whether for
the England No.10 jersey or
the title at Twickenham today.
Their lives have been
intertwined ever since they
were sent to the same
state comprehensive in
Hertfordshire, one which
also saw Maro Itoje and Jack
Singleton pass through its
doors.
Andy Farrell joined Saracens
as a player to join Mike Ford
who was the club’s coach and
so their sons became close
schoolmates, practising rugby
together whenever they could
find the time.
“All we wanted to do was
go outside and kick a ball
around,” said Ford.
“Owen used to come
home and be like,
‘C’mon mate, we
need to go outside
and have a mess
around, do a bit of my
homework for me’.
“I’d be, ‘All right.’ And I’d start
doing a bit of his French or
whatever it was. That way we
could go out on the front and
kick a ball around.”
Ford grabbed the headlines
after the match, in which
Leicester went down 28-17 to
Leeds Carnegie, but on that
occasion it wasn’t George.
His next taste of a Twickenham
final came at the end of his
second campaign with Bath
but, despite Ford’s best efforts,
Saracens denied them a
But Ford will certainly not be
doing any favours for Farrell
today as he looks to bookend
his second spell at Tigers with
the perfect swansong.
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