Bobby Walsh, one of the under-age coaches at the time, remarked that he reminded him of a "young Cian Harrington" - another youth player who made the switch from league to union.

[8] On 8 November 2009, Ford became the youngest rugby union player to make his professional debut in England, breaking the record of international teammate Owen Farrell, at just 16 years and 237 days old when Leicester played Leeds Tykes in the Anglo-Welsh Cup.

[12][13] In January 2012, he was loaned out to Leeds Carnegie for a short period,[14] but returned to make his Heineken Cup debut, scoring his first Leicester try in the defeat of Aironi.

A late replacement for the injured Toby Flood, he guided Leicester Tigers to the Premiership final, with a 14-point haul in the 24–15 semi-final victory over Saracens.

Ford came off the bench in the first half of the Premiership final to replace the injured Toby Flood, and scored 12 points in Leicester's 37–17 win over Northampton Saints.

[citation needed] On 23 January 2013, it was announced that Ford was to leave Leicester Tigers at the end of the season, to join Bath Rugby.

[27] On 14 February 2017, it was announced that Ford would return to former club Leicester Tigers as part of a swap deal with Freddie Burns, at the end of the 2016–2017 season.

[31] In Leicester's 2021–2022 Premiership semi-final against Northampton Saints, Ford inspired the victory scoring a "full house" with a try, conversion, penalty and drop goal for 22 points in a 27-13 win.

[32] Ford started the 2022 Premiership Rugby final, but suffered an early injury and was substituted in the 23rd minute, as Tigers beat Saracens 15-12.

He missed the 2010 tour to South Africa due to club commitments[40] and in his absence the team's three year, 25-game winning run came to an end with a 23–17 defeat to the hosts.

[42] He went on to start every game in the tournament, winning Man of the Match awards in the victories over France, Scotland and Ireland as England won the Grand Slam.

[43] Despite being the youngest player competing at the 2011 U20 Junior World Cup, Ford remained first-choice fly-half as England finished in second place following victories over Ireland, Scotland, South Africa and France.

Such was the standard of his performances, however, that he won the World Rugby Junior Player of the Year award,[8] beating New Zealanders Sam Cane and Luke Whitelock who were also shortlisted.

[49] The following weekend saw him make a 10 minute appearance against Italy in which he made a good break to set up a try for Chris Robshaw as England finished runners up.

[53] He was picked to start in the tournament opener against Fiji as England won 35–11,[54] however, one week later, Ford was dropped in favour of childhood friend Owen Farrell.

[58][59] Later that year Ford was part of the side that won 3-0 on their summer tour of Australia[60] and in the 2016 Autumn Internationals scored a try against South Africa as England defeated the Springboks for the first time in a decade.

[61] Ford was also a member of the side that retained their title during the 2017 Six Nations Championship,[62] missing out on a consecutive grand slam with defeat in the final game away to Ireland which also brought an end to a record equalling 18 successive Test victories.

[76] In the knockout phase he wan an unused replacement in the quarter-final against Fiji and then came off the bench as a second-half substitute in their elimination against champions South Africa.