Loss an "eye-opener" for Ford

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Bath fly-half George Ford believes his side were given an “eye-opener” in their loss to Glasgow at Scotstoun Stadium last weekend.

Bath fly-half George Ford believes his side were given an “eye-opener” in their heavy loss to Glasgow Warriors at Scotstoun Stadium last weekend.

The 37-10 negative to start their European Rugby Champions Cup campaign saw Bath well beaten by the Scottish side, who are in excellent form.

And for the young England international it was a tough opening result to take and one that they need to put right against Toulouse this week.

“It was a bit of an eye-opener and we know we have a lot to work on, the biggest disappointment was our desire and our hunger that was lacking,” explained the improving 21-year-old playmaker.

“But we are under no illusions, we have had some very honest meetings this week and have fronted up to it.

“There is not one specific thing that went wrong, it was quite a lot of things.

“The biggest was probably our hunger and desire that was lacking. When you go away from home teams come out all guns blazing and we need to be able to match that from minute one.

“We let Glasgow get away from us and we were very disappointed with that.

“There are things that we can control ourselves, missing one-on-one tackles, giving silly penalties away and that all accumulates and we couldn’t get any momentum.

“We have got to deal with it a bit better and maybe that does come down to a bit of inexperience.”

This Saturday will see Bath run out at the Recreation Ground against the French side, with Ford thankful for the quick turnaround in the competition as they look to put the loss to bed.

“The good thing with rugby is you always get the chance to play the week after,” added Ford.

“The lads have all been training well and we are looking forward to Toulouse, we know just how big and how tough they are.

“We make no bones about it, losing your first Pool game means we are on the back foot.

“You have got to win all your home games to have a chance, they are massively important but there is more to it than that.

“Beating Toulouse at home would just be a fantastic result, for the players and for the fans.

“They have a lot of history in the competition and are one hell of a team but we are a team that learns quickly and we are excited about taking it into the coming games.”