Message for George Ford.

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Robespierre
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Re: Message for George Ford.

Post by Robespierre »

strawclearer wrote:
Agreed. The hour following the end of the match was hugely memorable - watching the lap of honour; seeing so many stay behind to applaud the players; laughing at the antics of the players' kids out on the field, particularly the young Mulipolas and, personally, for shaking hands with and thanking Marcos, Freddie, Owen and Jack. Special day.[/quote]

Good man, Strawclearer for mentioning Owen Williams, who in my opinion has been an equally valuable member of the Tigers' squad as Freddie Burns has. Good luck to him with Glaws and I'm sure that when he and Burns come to Tigers next season they'll be warmly received by the crowd.
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BengalTiger
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Re: Message for George Ford.

Post by BengalTiger »

The excellent development of Williams and Burns should also be viewed against a very disrupted midfield for a couple of seasons, I am not sure how GF would have coped with that.
Great player that GF is he will have big boots to fill next season, I wish him every success.
Iain
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Re: Message for George Ford.

Post by Iain »

I have every confidence that George Ford will be excellent for us. He was a very good player when he left but needed a bit of development. Bath have developed him for us, we now get him back a better player. Thanks Bath!

But that doesn't mean to say I'm not very sorry to see Burns go. He's been excellent and actually replacing him with Ford was the answer to a question that literally nobody was asking. It's incredibly harsh how things have gone for him and it doesn't quite sit right with me.

I'd like people to recognise that this whole thing is not Burns v Ford. You can be happy that we'll have Ford whilst at the same time feeling very sorry that we're losing Burns.
chewbacca
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Re: Message for George Ford.

Post by chewbacca »

I too am sorry to see Freddie and Owen leave. Not to say that I don't welcome George back and wish him the very best. Freddie has a great rapport with in particular the younger fans, a real generous man. Owen too has been really good for us playing at 12 when Im sure he would have preferred the 10 shirt to help his quest for a place in the Wales side. Both pros and both a credit to themselves and the club.
Still of course a premiership to win which would be very fitting. Best of luck Freddie and Owen its been a treat to watch you playing for Tigers.
I'm not cynical just experienced
Roly
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Re: Message for George Ford.

Post by Roly »

Iain wrote:I have every confidence that George Ford will be excellent for us. He was a very good player when he left but needed a bit of development. Bath have developed him for us, we now get him back a better player. Thanks Bath!
Double edged sword though isn't it, because Tigers will lose Ford to England duties, whereas Tigers didn't worry about Burns being unavailable for significant periods of time during the season (unless injured).

FWIW, I don't think Ford is any more 'flakey' than Burns was - Eddie Jones certainly favours Ford, so he must be doing something right. Still, Fordy has gone a bit wayward at times, it was his missed tackle and 'at the death' kick that handed the Challenge Cup to their French opponents.
“It is no use saying, ‘We are doing our best.’ You have got to succeed in doing what is necessary.” Sir Winston Churchill.
Iain
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Re: Message for George Ford.

Post by Iain »

Roly wrote:
Iain wrote:I have every confidence that George Ford will be excellent for us. He was a very good player when he left but needed a bit of development. Bath have developed him for us, we now get him back a better player. Thanks Bath!
Double edged sword though isn't it, because Tigers will lose Ford to England duties, whereas Tigers didn't worry about Burns being unavailable for significant periods of time during the season (unless injured).
I don't disagree with you. That was a big benefit of Burns. Like I said, an answer to a question nobody was asking.
Roly wrote: FWIW, I don't think Ford is any more 'flakey' than Burns was - Eddie Jones certainly favours Ford, so he must be doing something right. Still, Fordy has gone a bit wayward at times, it was his missed tackle and 'at the death' kick that handed the Challenge Cup to their French opponents.
To be fair, I think 'was' is the operative word here. Burns has, for me, matured and become more consistent. He's not lost his flair, but has added control to his repertoire too.

Ford's Achilles heel has always been his ability to grind a performance out behind a pack on the back foot. Hopefully there's two answers to that:
1. The way Genge is developing as a destructive loosehead in tandem with Cole on the other side ought to lessen the occasions we're on the back foot.
2. Ford's maturing. Adding increased control to his game isn't beyond him and neither is improving his kicking. Burns managed it us, why not Ford?


I'm confident it will work out well for us, but I'm sad that we're losing Freddie. I've enjoyed watching him play.
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