Sunday's Premiership teams: George Ford impressed by Manu Tuilagi ahead of Leicester v Bath
By Press Association
Last Updated: 01/09/17 3:58pm
George Ford has been "nothing but impressed" with Manu Tuilagi as the powerful Leicester centre prepares for his Aviva Premiership return.
Tuilagi will line up for the Tigers against Ford's former club Bath on Sunday, making a first Premiership appearance since January, when he was sidelined by a knee injury.
He also takes the spotlight again after being sent home early along with Sale Sharks wing Denny Solomona from an England training camp last month following what the Rugby Football Union described as "team culture issues".
Tigers and England fly-half Ford, though, believes that Tuilagi, who has only played for England once since 2014, can recapture top form.
"I have been nothing but impressed with Manu around the club," Ford said, during Tigers' preparations for the new campaign.
"He is in good spirits. He just wants to play. He wants to train each week, play at the weekend and we will see the best of him I am sure.
"I genuinely believe he can (get back to his best). He looks in good shape and is training consistently on the field, and I could not be more impressed with the lines he has been running in attack, his communication and what he was doing defensively.
"I want him outside of me, that's for sure. We want to give Manu the ball one-on-one if we can, or give him ball when he has space to run at someone."
The Premiership fixture planners have thrown up an immediate Bath reunion for Ford following his departure from the Recreation Ground earlier this year.
And having rejoined Leicester - the club he left in 2013 to play for Bath - Ford is relishing the prospect of a full-on domestic and European campaign in Tigers colours.
"The last time I was here, Matt O'Connor (head coach), Ben (Youngs), Manu and Alex Martin (head of strength and conditioning) were here too, so it's like coming back to where I was four years ago," he added.
"It's nice to see familiar faces, and there is not much that has changed at the training ground either.
"But there are a lot of new faces, too, and that is exciting. We have some real pace in the side now, and it is my job to get the ball to them.
"Under Matt's leadership, we are going in the right direction to be a dangerous team.
"Matt has developed as a coach, but there are still a lot of similarities to when he was here last time. He formulates the game-plan to fit the players we have got and to get the best out of the players we have got.
"From a fly-half's point of view, I like to play attacking rugby, but he has installed a bit of the traditional Tigers of being physical and getting the forwards to front-up and get the backs some good ball."
Ford, meanwhile, has short shrift for those who suggested his form might have dipped last season as his time with Bath drew to a close.
"Other people thought I lacked form last season," he said. "But I was actually quite happy with the foundations of my game.
"It's very easy for people to comment on the way I was playing and speculate (about leaving Bath) and all of that rubbish.
"But the (England) tour to Argentina gave me two games to really focus on, and it was a different challenge because we had a lot of new lads in the squad.
"I tried to bring them up to speed and manage them, and I really enjoyed that."
Leicester: 15 Telusa Veainu, 14 Nick Malouf, 13 Manu Tuilagi, 12 Matt Toomua, 11 Jonny May, 10 George Ford, 9 Ben Youngs, 1 Ellis Genge, 2 Tom Youngs, 3 Logovi'i Mulipola, 4 Dom Barrow, 5 Graham Kitchener, 6 Dominic Ryan, 7 Brendon O'Connor, 8 Sione Kalamafoni.
Replacements: 16 Harry Thacker, 17 Greg Bateman, 18 Dan Cole, 19 Mike Williams, 20 Luke Hamilton, 21 Sam Harrison, 22 Joe Ford, 23 Mathew Tait.
Bath: 15 Anthony Watson, 14 Semesa Rokoduguni, 13 Jonathan Joseph, 12 Max Clark, 11 Matt Banahan, 10 Rhys Priestland, 9 Chris Cook, 1 Beno Obano, 2 Tom Dunn, 3 Kane Palma-Newport, 4 Luke Charteris, 5 Elliott Stooke, 6 Matt Garvey, 7 Francois Louw, 8 Taulupe Faletau.
Replacements: 16 Jack Walker, 17 Nick Auterac, 18 Anthony Perenise, 19 James Phillips, 20 Paul Grant, 21 Kahn Fotuali'i, 22 Freddie Burns, 23 Ben Tapuai.
