George Ford has turned down the riches on offer from R360 for one last shot at a Rugby World Cup with England. The 32-year-old revealed he was approached by the rebel circuit, fronted by the former England centre Mike Tindall, but rejected a deal believed to be worth £1m a season to chase his dream.
Ford, who reached a century of caps last summer, has signed a three-year contract extension with Sale which will ensure his availability for the 2027 World Cup in Australia.
The pair face each other on Saturday when Saracens and Sale meet at the StoneX Stadium.
Ford has started the domestic season in the same imperious form he showed on England’s summer tour where he co-captained the side to a series win in Argentina. That trip underlined to him that England are assembling impressive depth at the halfway point of the World Cup cycle. He namechecks the Bath flanker Guy Pepper – “he has definitely got an unbelievable future ahead of him playing for England” – and the Gloucester centre Seb Atkinson as particularly valuable finds.
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The coaching additions on that tour also impressed him, and evidently Borthwick too. The England head coach signed up Lee Blackett from Bath full-time and is trying to bring in Byron McGuigan from Sale on a job-share arrangement in time for the autumn Tests.
Ford already knew McGuigan, the Sharks defence coach, but felt a kinship working with the attack specialist Blackett for the first time. “He came in and added unbelievably well to our attack. He has got a very positive mindset, he wants us to be dangerous and go and score some tries.”
Ford, with his rugby computer of a mind, has his own ideas on how England need to evolve their attack. “The French teams are great at the unstructured side of it; the English DNA is more structured. If we can find a midpoint of that then we’ll be in a good spot.”
Like his father Mike and brother Joe, he will inevitably become a coach one day. But for the time being it is all about maximising the return from his remaining years as a player in whatever way he can.
“In recent months, I’ve been doing a lot more pilates. I know that sounds funny but what it has done to help my hip, my back, my kicking, everything has been great. We feel as rugby players we’re strong. When you’re in the gym you can lift weights and stuff but that has exposed a few areas in terms of weaknesses. I wish I’d have started it a bit earlier.”
