SOME might argue that anyone could shine behind Bath’s current forward pack, but Harlequins fly-half Nick Evans believes those people would be doing George Ford a serious disservice.

Bath are a different animal these days, putting last season’s heartaches of missing out on a Premiership play-off place on the final day of the season and losing the European Challenge Cup final to Northampton Saints firmly behind them as they headed into 2015 second in the table.

Exciting backs Anthony Watson, Kyle Eastmond, Jonathan Joseph and Semesa Rokoduguni have tended to grab the headlines, but the performances of Bath’s forwards have not gone unnoticed as the front five set a platform any side in world rugby would be happy with.

However, Harlequin Evans believes there is still one man that is standing head and shoulders above the rest at The Rec, this being No 10 Ford.

And the Kiwi admits he struggles to comprehend just how well the 22-year-old controls all that goes on around him.

“George is doing a fantastic job and he’s just a young kid as well – he still has a lot to learn but as long as he keeps playing well he’ll be brilliant,” said Evans, who was visiting Bishop Perrin C of E Primary School in Twickenham to support the Aviva Tackling Numbers programme – an innovative and engaging programme about numbers and financial education fun.

“He plays in a pretty good team which is always helpful – people say you could put anyone behind the All Black pack and they would look good and you could probably say the same about Bath.

“They’ve got a fantastic pack but Ford does control the game very well – his kicking out of hand is fantastic and it’s his option-taking that strikes me the most.

“He must do a lot of work on his mental skills which is good for a guy that young.

“Obviously I’ve been working with Tim Swiel and coming from the Sharks he didn’t have to think too much because he had internationals inside and out of him. But up here you need to control the game a lot more and that’s what Ford does.”

Ford’s performances in a Bath shirt saw him supplant Owen Farrell as England’s first-choice fly-half in November, the 22-year-old coming in and steering the Red Rose to victories over Samoa and Australia.

But while it seems the world is Ford’s oyster, Evans is urging the Bath star not to rest on his laurels just yet with Farrell still nipping at his heels.

“I remember a couple of years ago, all the talk was there are no fly-halves in the Premiership or for England but all of a sudden there’s a big boat of them,” he added.

“Obviously George Ford has taken his opportunity but I still think Owen Farrell is the guy there that probably should be there.

“I think he’s got a fantastic temperament and a great head on him – he’s played for the British & Irish Lions and he’s got England out of a lot of holes.

“Maybe they look at playing Farrell at 12 but Ford and Farrell probably isn’t the most intimidating 10-12 combination in the world but if you put Manu [Tuilagi] there when he’s fit then it looks pretty good.”

Nick Evans is supporting Aviva Tackling Numbers, an innovative maths programme for 7-9 year olds. The programme aims to improve numeracy levels through rugby based exercises and is run in partnership with Premiership Rugby. Visit www.aviva.co.uk/tacklingnumbers