Alex Sanderson believes that George Ford will be included in Steve Borthwick’s first Six Nations squad despite having not played for Sale Sharks this season.
Ford seriously injured his achilles tendon helping Leicester Tigers, then coached by Borthwick, to win last season’s Gallagher Premiership title by defeating Saracens in the Twickenham final in June.
He is not scheduled to make his Sale debut until the Premiership clash with Bath on January 27, with Borthwick, the new England head coach, facing his opening Six Nations match against Scotland on February 4.
Sale play Toulouse at home in the Champions Cup on January 14, but Sanderson said that this could come too early to risk Ford, who was part of this week’s England fitness testing, alongside his club-mates Jonny Hill, Manu Tuilagi, Tom Curry, Raffi Quirke and Bevan Rodd.
Eddie Jones, the former England head coach, opted to start Marcus Smith with Ford as the replacement throughout last season’s Six Nations championship. Ford was unable to tour Australia in the summer and Smith held on to the role, with Owen Farrell at No 12, and they remained in those positions for the autumn internationals.
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“George went to the testing and if I was Steve Borthwick, what would I do in his shoes? I would go back to a game model that works and employ some of the people that enabled it,” Sanderson, the club’s director of rugby, said. “George’s invitation to come straight back into the squad despite being injured and not being able to do the tests is an indication of his inclusion during the Six Nations.
“Whether he goes straight back into an international shirt or plays for us — that is something for me and Steve to thrash out.
“You will see when George comes back he is stockier than ever and his metrics in terms of strength testing are off the charts. He is coming back fitter and stronger and more robust. Of course Toulouse in the Champions Cup is a big game for us but if he hasn’t met certain metrics in his return to play in his rehabilitation programme, even if he is kicking 50metre goals and doing spiral bombs for our physios — which he is — we are not going to risk him. We will make sure he is robust enough to play.
“With England it will be a love — or a hate — triangle for No 10, because George is quality enough to do that. In all honesty, I think that George is going to go straight to the Six Nations after a game or two and Rob du Preez should hold the shirt [for Sale] until March and then we will let them play for it.”
Sanderson also revealed that Du Preez, who has held the Sale No 10 shirt all season, is back on the Springbok radar with their management heading into this year’s World Cup in France.
