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Thursday 15 November 2018 14:23, UK
George Ford says he never imagined he would win 50 caps as he prepares to captain England against Japan.
The Leicester Tigers fly-half will reach the milestone at Twickenham on Saturday, live on Sky Sports, as he steps in as skipper with co-captains Dylan Hartley and Owen Farrell starting on the bench.
"All I'd say is when you get your first cap for England, it's an unbelievable moment. It's an honour and a privilege and to get one is special - you never dream of getting 50," Ford told Sky Sports News.
"I'm massively excited. It's going to be a proud day but the most important thing is we step forward as a team and we get back on winning terms."
Eddie Jones has made 11 changes from the side that narrowly lost to New Zealand last weekend with Bath wing Joe Cokanasiga given his debut.
But Ford, who is part of a new half-back pairing with Danny Care, says everyone in the squad has an important part to play.
"Even in the last couple of weeks, I've not had much game time (but) my involvement and hopefully contribution has not been too dissimilar to this week," he added.
"The weeks have not changed too much for me really. I don't really see the fascination between starters and guys on the bench.
"We're a squad of 23 and probably more so in the last two weeks, the times the lads have come off the bench on to the field has been the most important part of the games against South Africa and New Zealand.
"From being on there, the engagement from the lads and how big their job is when they come on, it's huge and it will be no different this week."
Japan arrive at Twickenham on the back of a 69-31 defeat to the All Blacks earlier in the month but Ford insists England will not be taking them lightly.
"They're probably the highest kicking team in the world and want an unstructured nature to the game so for us, it's important to be tactically good this week," he said.
"We want to play the game on our terms, speed it up and slow it down at the right times, kick the ball at the right times and keep it at the right times.
"It's certainly a challenge in terms of that but we've prepped well for it."
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