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'He'd be a brilliant coach, the Ford apple doesn't fall far'

(Photo by Naomi Baker/Getty Images for Sale Sharks)

Sale boss Alex Sanderson has predicted that new signing George Ford has the potential to be a brilliant coach once his playing career is over. The 29-year-old is currently sidelined with the ruptured achilles injury suffered in the first half of Leicester’s Gallagher Premiership final win over Saracens last June at Twickenham.

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Aside from the laborious process of getting himself back to full fitness, something the Sharks expect will take at least until the end of December, the seasoned England out-half has been sharing his wisdom on the game with Sanderson and his fellow staff at the Manchester club that he agreed to join last November for the 2022/23 season.

A big deal was made last season about how Owen Farrell, Ford’s England teammate, made use of his two lengthy ankle injury layoffs by helping out with the coaching on the training field at Saracens, even spending a match watching proceedings unfold at the StoneX Arena in the company of director of rugby Mark McCall and his assistant coaches.

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Sanderson explained that something similar won’t materialise at the AJ Bell, that Ford won’t be sat – a la Farrell at Saracens – in the Sale coaches’ box for a match while he is unavailable to play for the coming months.

However, he did explain the influence that Ford is wielding on Sale while on the sidelines and added that he will be an excellent coach in the future just like his father Mike, who worked for Ireland, England, Bath and Leicester, and his brothers Joe, who is an assistant coach at Doncaster, and Jacob, who is head of rugby at Ipswich School and director of rugby at Bury St Edmunds.

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Asked by RugbyPass if Ford might help out the Sale coaches to a similar degree as Farrell did at Saracens during his injury layoff, Sanderson replied: “He does (help), the best players do anyway vicariously. I don’t think he will go in the coaching box to that degree but we do look for feedback from him on sessions and post-games.

“There is a little group that I’d be meeting with just to get their purely subjective observations on the game aside from the lads who have been involved in it. It’s somebody else’s point of view so he has an influence on a lot of what he would do.”

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Does Ford have a future in coaching? “He’d be a great coach, he’d be a brilliant coach. Both his brothers coach and his dad coached so I assume he is going to be another one. The apple doesn’t fall far from the Ford tree.”

What was Ford’s hot-take on last Sunday’s opening round Premiership win over Northampton? “I don’t keep much from ye (media) boys, which is probably one of my faults. Probably how excited we are that if we can get a few things right we can compete a lot better.”

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R
RedWarrior 1 hour ago
Three-way race to be number one in World Rugby men's rankings

IF SA and NZ win then its 1,2,3 SA/NZ/IRL Otherwise as you were. This is largely irrelevant beyond bragging rights.


As I have pointed out elsewhere the practical use of the Rankings is to determine the seedings bands for the RWC draw. The draw takes place early 2026 and hopefully the rankings will be taken from then.


Important to be in the top 6, the top 12. (and likely the top 4).

This is because there are now 6 groups in the RWC 2027.

If you are in top 6 you are in Seeding Band 1. That means none of the other top 6 will be in your group.

Seeding Band 2 are teams from 7-12, who will have a top 6 team but no other 7-12 team.

After England's defeat by NZ there is clear water between NZ in 3rd, France in 4th and England in 5th. England are desperate for top4, ill come back and explain why later.

Lets look at Seeding Band 1 and 6th place. If you make 6th, no top 6 team is in your group, you are top dog. If you win your group, you won't be facing a top 6 team in your 1/8th final, you will be facing a weaker team. If you fail to make 6th place you WILL have a top 6 team in your group and if you don't win your group you WILL (probably) meet a top 6 in the 1/8 final. That's massive.


Its Argentina holding 6th now. Assuming England hold 5th, then its a 4 horse race for 6th. Argentina, Scotland, Italy and ...Australia. (ranked 6,7,8,9)

Australia play the Lions in NH summer 2025 they are running out of time to get up to 6th for their own RWC. They MUST make a move now. They must beat Wales and they really must beat Scotland to gain points and take points off them. Could they surprise England or Ireland? England may be the better bet but Schmidt knows Ireland so well having masterminded their downfall in France.

Another one to watch is Italy V Argentina. Italy are ambitious and they will want to start pushing the likes of Argentina. If they win this they are still in the hunt. Well worth a watch either way.


Top4: I think the top 6 will be seeded, all the way through from the draw. If thats the case then the top 4 will be seeded to avoid each other until the semi. Good for more certainty around ticket sales etc. That's a possible reason why England want in there. You're not in there you are hitting a top 4 team in a QF. That's an extra 50:50 match you can do without and avoid by being top 4.


Lets look at what Seeding bands might look like with todays rankings:


Seeding Band 1

IRE/SA/NZ/FRA/ENG/ARG

Seeding Band 2

SCO/ITA/AUS/FIJ/WAL/GEO


Sample Aussie strongest pool opponent and 1/8th final opponent if in top 6

Strongest pool opponent: FIJI

1/8 final opponent GEORGIA

Prognosis: advance to 1/4 and potentially beyond


Sample Aussie strongest pool opponent and 1/8th final opponent if NOT in top 6

Strongest pool opponent: SOUTH AFRICA

1/8 final opponent NEW ZEALAND

Prognosis: You know the prognosis


I am pretty sure this is not lost on Joe Schmidt?


Keep in mind when enjoying the matches.

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