For Bath, this would be a return to the exalted status held in the Eighties and Nineties; in Ford’s case, nothing less than a personal renaissance after a half-decade as Test defence coach that ended sourly with the 2011 World Cup fiasco.
But he is nothing if not a survivor, most recently with his emergence as head coach when Gary Gold, the man who brought him to The Rec, became rugby director and left as his job description could not be agreed.
Then there were the England years, under Andy Robinson, Brian Ashton and finally Martin Johnson – regimes of varying success. After Ford’s previous years in rugby league, then came Ireland and Saracens.
It is an undeniably rich and varied experience and an extended apprenticeship for where he is now – plainly doing plenty right, with Bath moving into a play-off position, where they remain even after losing at Northampton last Saturday, and showing the resilience to stay the course. A week earlier they had beaten Harlequins.
“Imagine how much you learn from going through what we did with England at the World Cup, successful in the end in 2007 but unsuccessful in 2011,†said Ford. “You can’t buy that. I have been through all the emotions of winning and losing.
“I signed for Wigan in 1983 and have been in professional sport ever since. I’m 48 and have been coaching since I was 32, in league and union.
“After 18 months of union coaching, I would have run back to league because I didn’t know what I was doing. But the more years you have, the more equipped you are. I needed that apprenticeship, that learning, the understanding of the game and of myself as a person. There was a time when I thought I was ready when I wasn’t. Now, I believe I am.â€
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George Ford has his Bath teaming running hot again
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