George Ford: Ireland are so much more than ‘Stop Sexton’

When Ireland won their first Triple Crown in 19 years back in 2004, a young English boy joined in the celebrations at their training base.

A regular around the squad since his father Mike had been appointed defence coach in 2002, young George Ford would spend his days acting as ballboy to Ronan O’Gara and David Humphreys, and being taken for ice-cream by Peter Stringer.

Ford has grown up quite a bit since then, and will start for England in the No.10 jersey at the Aviva Stadium on Sunday.