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Leicester

Leicester

Ford starts against Saints

01st November 2012 15:03

george ford leicester tigers

Rare start: George Ford

Leicester's 19-year old fly-half will start in the Midlands derby against Northampton Saints on Saturday.

With Toby Flood away with England throughout November, youngster Ford is set to be given an extended run in the side.

"George Ford will start at fly-half on Saturday," Tigers boss Richard Cockerill told the Leicester Mercury.

"And out of the whole George Ford scenario, George Ford is the most sensible person in it.

"He understands where he is in his development curve. Last season, he started 11 games for the first team, he played in two semi-finals and two finals. Everyone is telling me he must play or he will leave.

"Well, George played lots of rugby last season and he will do the same this year. He is a great rugby player with a very mature head on his shoulders.

"Him, his management and his agent all get that, and George understands where he is at.

"We want him to stay here for a long time, along with Toby Flood, and that is something we have managed well with Dan Cole and Martin Castrogiovanni.

"Of course, George needs to play but you have to trust the club and how we have developed players in the past.

"He is 19. I want him to be really good at 21, and 22, and 25, and 28 and 35. We have seen plenty of examples of people who haven't developed well at other clubs. Of course there will be offers for him, but is that (moving) the right thing to do?

"Toby has 50 caps for England and people tend to forget that I have to manage him as well.

"It's going to be hard to manage, but we will do our best. George will play against the Maori and London Irish and Wasps and, when Toby comes back from England duty, we will see where we are at. People have to trust our system."

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