George Ford made an early case for inclusion in Stuart Lancaster’s thinking with 19 points in front of England’s head coach as Bath survived a second-half scare to seal an opening-day victory at Sale Sharks.
The England fly half landed five penalty goals and converted both Bath tries as they overcame their hosts at the AJ Bell Stadium, despite the first-half sin-binning of Dominic Day.
Ford’s immaculate kicking performance - plus key roles in both their opening and match-winning tries - overshadowed the performance of one of his rivals for the England fly half role, Danny Cipriani.
Playing in his 100th Premiership match, Sale’s kicker scored half their points before being replaced eight minutes from time.
Sale’s line-up was much changed from last season, with Chris Cusiter and Nathan Hines among a handful of debutants.
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But they were hit by a sucker punch within 60 seconds of kick-off, Anthony Watson collecting Ford’s kick and bursting through to score, Ford, inevitably, converting.
Bath, fielding several new faces of their own, extended their lead through a Ford penalty before Cipriani put Saracens on the scoreboard with his own penalty kick.
But two more Ford kicks, either side of Day’s yellow card for a late challenge on Cipriani, took the visitors 13 points clear with half-time just minutes away.
However, a Mark Jennings try just before the interval, converted by the Sale fly half, kept Sale in the match.
Ford’s fourth penalty goal midway through the second half gave Bath breathing space, but a try from Mark Easter, again converted by Cipriani, took Sale into the lead for the first time with less than a quarter of an hour to go.
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However, Semesa Rokoduguni, the wing, touched down from a well-timed Ford pass with just seven minutes left, before Ford inevitably put over the conversion and then sealed the win with another penalty goal.
Toby Booth, the Bath coach, praised Ford’s match-winning performance, in front of both Lancaster and the England backs coach, Andy Farrell, who are preparing to name their squad for the autumn internationals.
“He felt he was maybe over-training with his kicking,” said Booth. “He has gone down the quality, rather than quantity, route, and he got his rewards today.”
Sale’s director of rugby, Steve Diamond, lamented his team’s performance and admitted: “They were a little bit better than us in the key areas. There was probably a bit of inexperience there in the last ten minutes.
“George Ford spotted it, created the overlap, and he’s a top player. That was the difference, really.”