George Ford says an away trip to Paris to face one of European rugby’s most star-studded outfits “presents a great opportunity” for a Tigers squad looking to end a six game losing streak.
Despite winning their most recent Heineken Champions Cup fixture, 45-27 over Scarlets at Welford Road on October 19, Leicester have not finished on the right side of a scoreline since after suffering three successive losses in both the Premiership Cup and Gallagher Premiership.
“We will go there with the mindset to win the game, as we always do for every game.”
George Ford
However the Tigers fly-half, who along with several other international stars has only featured once since the victory over the Welsh side due to the autumn international schedule, is defiantly positive about the upcoming fortnight of games against last year’s European runners up.
“It presents a great opportunity for us to go away, in Europe, and get something away from home,” said Ford.
“We will go there with the mindset to win the game, as we always do for every game.”
The all-English competition now takes a break for two weeks and, after nine rounds, Ford sits atop the points-scorer tally with 99 at an average of 11 per game after a strong start to the 2018/19 campaign.
With European rugby back on the agenda, the Leicester and England fly-half says he and his team mates “need to be excited” for what is regarded one of the toughest away trips in world rugby.
“We need to be excited about it,” he added.
“We’re going away to face one of the biggest teams in Europe, with the team they have, in Paris and we can go there and give it a real, good crack as it could be a catalyst for our season.”
The 25-year-old was also quick to acknowledge that it wasn't time to feel sorry for yourself, saying it was now about simply getting back on the horse and facing up to some honest truths after last weekend’s 31-point loss to Bristol.
“This is not where we want to be as a team, we need to get back on the horse quickly as a group,” he said.
“We’re going to have to be brutally honest with each other and, yes, we have said that a couple of times recently but this is a serious reality check for us and we need to come up with the answers quickly.”
