England head coach Steve Borthwick says George Ford has vowed to him he will be able to play a part in next month’s Autumn Nations Series.
Ford suffered a tear to his right quad last month when playing for his club side Sale Sharks against Saracens.
The fly-half has not been able to play since, but he will be in England camp from next week to undergo his rehabilitation.
England are taking on New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and Japan next month at Twickenham and Ford is working hard to be involved in some capacity.
“George rang me a few weeks ago, shortly after the injury had been diagnosed... we’d both had the medical and scan reports and he was very clear,” said Borthwick.
“He said: ‘Steve, I know what it says and I’m going to beat that and be back a lot quicker than that’. He said: ‘Steve I’ll be back’ - and he’s doing really well.
“I spoke to him a couple of days ago, he’s done plenty of running, he’s done goal-kicking already and he’s running again today and Friday, and he’ll continue his rehab with us next week.
“Sale have been excellent, the medical team have liaised with ours, and the way Alex [Sanderson] has approached it has been top-class. It’s been no surprise that with George’s attitude, he’s doing as well as he is.”
As well as Ford, England have been sweating on the fitness of Henry Slade - who has not played this season due to a shoulder injury.
The centre, however, was named in England’s 36-man squad for the Autumn Nations Series and Borthwick is optimistic about his recovery.
“The nature of a shoulder injury means that physically there’s a lot you can do from a running perspective, which is one of the great assets of Sladey’s game,” said Borthwick.
“In that sense we know that he’s fit. The contact elements have been progressing as his shoulder has got stronger.
“Speaking to him at the alignment camp here last week when he was continuing his rehab, he feels really good.
“Our conversations with Rob Baxter are really positive. He’s undergoing further assessments and tests at the end of this week and Rob and I said we’d have another conversation at the end of this week when we have more information about the next steps.”
