BATH's George Ford insists he is ready to take the reins against Samoa on Saturday and stake his claim as England’s first-choice fly-half.

Since his Test debut in the Six Nations back in March, Ford has been waiting patiently for his first outing in England’s No.10 shirt.

Shoulder surgery ruled the 21-year-old out of this year’s summer tour to New Zealand, while two appearances off the bench this month have offered limited opportunity to flex his creative muscles.

However, with growing calls for Ford to oust Owen Farrell for a starting role this weekend following the defeat to South Africa at Twickenham, the wait may soon be over.

“I think I’m ready,” said Ford. “I really, really want a chance. I always want to get on the pitch, but the way things were going [against South Africa] they put me and Ben [Youngs] on at the same time to try to make an impact.

“I thought we did okay, there were still things we could have done better when we were on as well, so we’re going to have to go back and work on that ahead.

“I think any game you start for England is a big chance for you to go out there and try to play as well as you can.

“I think it’s going to be a big week now this week, we’ve obviously come off the back of two losses and Samoa are a very physical team, a bit like South Africa.

“We’ve got to learn lessons and have a good week, a big week, and make sure we come ready for a big battle.”

Narrow defeat to the Springboks followed a similar fate at the hands of New Zealand the previous Saturday, with Ford involved as England chased each game late on.

And he is desperate to ensure that is not the case once more when Samoa come to Twickenham – and when Australia visit in the final game of the autumn internationals.

With the Six Nations around the corner and the World Cup less than a year away, time is running out for England to hone their preparations and for Ford to prove he can play a starring role.

“It’s enormous,” he added. “We need to win the next two. We don’t like losing. It’s five on the bounce now and we’re not a team that likes losing.

“Samoa is a big battle and we’ve got to take care of that one first before Australia, but to get a bit of momentum to take away with us, and get two good performances to take it into the New Year and the Six Nations is going to be important.

“The two teams we’ve played are both very good teams, we can’t take that away from them, and if you make mistakes they will punish you. That’s what they’ve done again, and we know that, we’ve said that for ages now.

“We’ve just got to be smarter. There are areas of the game I suppose tactically we need to get better because these teams punish us when we don’t.”

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