Ford primed to make England bow
ENGLAND coach Stuart Lancaster has backed George Ford to handle the step up to Test level after handing the young Bath fly-half his Test debut on Saturday against Ireland.
Ford, 20, was last night retained in boss Stuart Lancaster’s training party for the Six Nations showdown, meaning he is set to come off the bench at Twickenham.
“We feel that the time is right to include George,” he said. “We have successfully integrated and included many young players over the last two years and George is the next exciting talent to make his mark.”
Ford, son of Bath coach Mike Ford, replaces Saracens centre Brad Barritt in the 23 as Lancaster ensures he has specialist fly-half cover among the replacements for a match that could make or break England’s championship ambitions.
The former Leicester player holds the record for the youngest English professional debut, aged 16 and 237 days, and is a former International Rugby Board young player of the year. Despite being younger, Ford was preferred to current England No10 Owen Farrell when the pair played for the Under-20s.
MATCHDAY SQUAD
D Attwood, D Hartley, J Launchbury, C Lawes, J Marler, B Morgan, C Robshaw, H Thomas, B Vunipola, M Vunipola, D Wilson, T Wood, T Youngs, M Brown, L Burrell, D Care, L Dickson, O Farrell, G Ford, A Goode, J May, J Nowell, B Twelvetrees