Ford reckons 'Stoke Will be in top gear (From Basingstoke Gazette)

Ford reckons 'Stoke Will be in top gear

8:00am Wednesday 1st February 2012 in Rugby By John Boyman

WILL Ford says Basingstoke have improved massively since their last game against Chichester – and he is confident that the Down Grange club can upset the league leaders on Saturday.

The Sussex side scored a last-gasp try to win 10-6 at Down Grange earlier in the season but, to have any chance of winning London One South themselves, ’Stoke need to win the reverse fixture at the weekend.

Dependable No 8 Ford is expecting a very difficult game but thinks that Basingstoke have all of the qualities needed to come out on top.

He said: “It is a big game at Chichester but now we are familiar with what we are coming up against I have got a sneaking feeling that we can do the business there – and that would set us up for the rest of the season.

“It will be very tough but I have got a huge amount of belief in our side. Since the last time we played them we have come on leaps and bounds.

“Just by watching the DVDs of games we can pick out things that we are doing much better now than two or three months ago. We have evolved brilliantly and that brings confidence.

“We also know what we are coming up against. We are familiar with them and know how to deal with what they throw at us.”

Victory over Chichester would see ’Stoke significantly close the gap to the top of the table – and Ford believes that his side can claim title glory come the end of the season.

“We can win the league,” he said. “If we do the basics right and are clinical in the right areas then there is no doubt that we can win the title, or at least go very, very close.”

Ford, who celebrated his 22nd birthday on Thursday, followed head coach James Croker to Basingstoke in the summer, having played under him at Bournemouth-based club Oakmeadians.

“During pre-season I had trials at places like Richmond but James told me there was a big future at Basingstoke and I would be silly to miss out,” Ford explained. “So far he has been proved right.”

London One South is quite a step up from the Southern Counties South, where Oakmeadians play their rugby, but Ford has bridged the gap seamlessly, quickly becoming a key member of the Basingstoke pack.

“I’m very pleased by the way it is going and am enjoying every minute,” he said. “It’s great fun and I have not experienced a full season at a club that is run so professionally before.”

Indeed, Ford’s impact on the team has been so impressive that he was handed the captaincy for the trip to Thanet last week, leading the side to a comprehensive victory.

“I very much enjoyed being captain the other week,” he said. “It was a game where we potentially could have collapsed or gone off the boil in but we held it together and I like to think that some of the things I said out there helped us avoid that.

“When I spoke to James about the captaincy he asked me if I was surprised but to be honest, and without trying to sound full of myself, captaincy is something that seems to come naturally to me. I captained Oakmedians at times, while I was also the captain at Bournemouth University, my school and in colts rugby, so it is a role I have performed quite a lot.”