Scotland hooker Ford back to work

The 27-year-old Edinburgh hooker was one of five Scotland players withdrawn from club service after the Six Nations, but will pack down for tomorrow’s EMC Test at Murrayfield for his first action since the victory over Italy on March 19.

The enforced break came as something of a relief for Ford, who had played continual rugby for the previous two years, including the British and Irish Lions tour to South Africa in 2009 and Scotland’s trip to Argentina a year later.

There were also physical symptoms relating to the decision to rest Ford, with an elevated heart rate a sign of fatigue which could have become serious had he not been ordered to reduce his workload.

Ford said: “The past two or three years have been pretty full-on. I’ve enjoyed it, but it’s just built up.

“It was good to be given that opportunity at the end of the season to go away and take it easier for a couple of weeks.

“I was a little bit surprised but I was quite pleased because I wasn’t performing as well as I like.

“I was feeling quite tired, so it was good to have that chance to get over the bumps and bruises and be able to improve my fitness and work on skills.

“There was still training to be done — I got the same amount of time off as the rest of the boys — but while they were training for the games at the end of the week, I was only doing three days a week.

“There was a lot of banter from the boys, ‘here comes the holiday-maker, just taking it easy’.”

Meanwhile, Jonny Wilkinson hailed Manu Tuilagi as the future of English rugby after the Leicester powerhouse was awarded his Test debut in tomorrow’s World Cup warm-up international against Wales.

“Manu has that aura about him, that Jason Robinson uniqueness about his ability to impact on a game,” said Wilkinson, who returns to the England line-up at fly-half.

“When someone has that ability you know he has to be special. I saw it a bit in Toulon with Sonny-Bill Williams. He has the power, the speed and he reads the game incredibly well. You have to sit back and acknowledge that you are seeing the future of the game, with this breed of youngster coming through.”