Ford-Farrell duel likely to play key role in Sale’s final against Saracens

G eorge Ford will never forget the first time he played against Owen Farrell. As a young lad playing junior rugby league for Saddleworth Rangers against Wigan St Patricks it did not take him or his teammates long to spot the looming threat. “We were all just stood there and you could see this lad towering over everyone. We were like: ‘He’s not playing, is he? He’s miles older than everyone.’ But it turned out he did play and he killed us. He scored a handful of tries in the first half and got told to temper it down in the second.”

And now here they come again, still on opposing sides with Ford at the tactical helm for Sale and Farrell in the box seat for Saracens on the highest-profile stage in domestic club union.

If there remains a slight physical disparity, the more diminutive Ford represents the biggest obstacle to Saracens’ hopes of a first Premiership title since 2019 in a contest which could also help to shape England’s Rugby World Cup strategy this year.

No game of rugby is ever entirely decided by one head-to-head battle but this is a fixture that Ford, in particular, has been awaiting for a while. Last year ,when playing for Leicester, he was forced out of the final early on with a torn achilles, leaving his deputy Freddie Burns to clinch victory with a last-gasp drop-goal. While Saracens clearly have their own unfinished business, the same definitely applies to the 30-year-old Ford.

Technically, according to his director of rugby, Alex Sanderson, there is barely anything to choose between the two old friends, who once lived next door to each other when their fathers moved south to work at Saracens. “They’re very similar in terms of a lot of the attributes that make them superlative players. Their decision