Fly-half George Ford has revealed that the upheaval at Bath which led to his father Mike being sacked last season and which contributed to his own decision to leave the club hit his dad “harder than I realised at the time”.

It also precipitated a chain of events which led to George phoning Mike again on Monday night after another parting of the ways, this time with Toulon, reassuring his father that in his eyes he was “the best coach in the world”.

It has been a turbulent 10 months for the Ford family, capped by the fact that George is preparing to help lead his team into action in front of a crowd of some 55,000 at Twickenham against Leicester, the very club he is rejoining at the end of the season.

The family pairing have always been close, Mike signing his son from Leicester four years ago as he looked to fast-track his progress into the international arena, a ploy that brought rich returns. And, much as both men are hard-nosed and meticulous professionals, the emotional strains and conflicted loyalties are clear to see. George’s admission was heartfelt.

“It does hit you,” said Ford last night. “From what we achieved here at Bath in two years and then for it to end like it did, that hit him quite a lot harder than I first realised. Dad is disappointed too [about Toulon]. We had a conversation [on Monday night] and I basically told him not to stop believing in his ability to coach. To this day he’s the best I’ve had.