Devastated George Ford hobbles off after just 20 minutes of Prem final

Leicester Tigers flyhalf George Ford survived just 20 minutes of his side’s Gallagher Premiership Final showdown with Saracens at Twickenham this afternoon.

It’s a potentially significant blow for Ford’s England aspirations, with the national tour of Australia just a week and a half away.

Indeed, Ford and Owen Farrell’s head to head contest at fly-half was billed as one of the final’s biggest draws, but it wasn’t to be for the Sale Sharks bound playmaker.

Will Skelton on Champions Cup celebrations and playing for the Barbarians | RugbyPass Offload | Episode 38

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Will Skelton on Champions Cup celebrations and playing for the Barbarians | RugbyPass Offload | Episode 38

The big rig Will Skelton joins us from Monaco this week where he’s on tour with the Barbarians and rooming with George Kruis. He fills us in on the tour so far, hanging out at the palace with the Prince and who’s leading the charge off the pitch. We also hear about his man-of-the-match performance for La Rochelle in the Champions Cup Final, that famous open-top bus celebration and what it’s like playing for coaches like O’Gara and Cheika.

At the heart of the contest was the fly-half battle between Ford, currently out of the international picture, and England captain Farrell, while Eddie Jones was watching from the stands as he makes final calls on squad selection for next month’s Australia tour.

Ford missed a routine shot at goal and in a terrible blow for Leicester, their general’s afternoon was over because of what appeared to be a rolled ankle incurred as his side attacked.

What a loss for Tigers so early on 😨 #LeicesterTigers #LEIvSAR #saracens #GallagherPremiershipFinal pic.twitter.com/CRWKIKKWIM

— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) June 18, 2022

Farrell offered commiserations to his friend as Ford was helped off, but it then became Saracens’ turn to suffer a setback when Davies was sin-binned for a high-tackle.

Leicester made the extra man count almost immediately when Freddie Steward accelerated clear along the touchline before finding Chris Ashton and, when the forwards arrived to reinforce the move, Hanro Liebenberg drove over.

Elliot Daly reduced to the deficit to 7-6 but raw power carried Tigers over for a second try after Genge ran a penalty into the guts of Saracens’ pack before Jasper Wiese surged over to give Tigers a 12-6 lead.