Ford also had to deal with boos from some of the Twickenham crowd when it appeared he would replace Smith again against Australia, with head coach Steve Borthwick instead moving Smith to full-back.
“When you represent your country and you do it for a long time, you can expect the fans to support you completely,” Ford added.
“It’s not just me, it’s happened recently with people like Owen in the past [Farrell]. It’s a funny way to be [booing your own team].
“But if my teammates know the value I bring, the coaches know the value I bring, and my family knows the value I bring, that’s all that matters to me.”
Ford says he will use all his experience to help younger halves like Smith and his namesake Fin, regardless of who is selected in the future.
“I don’t claim to have the answers to everything in rugby, but I’ve been on the international stage since 2014 and have a lot of experience and if I can pass anything on to the Finn, or even Marcus – even though he’s scoring goals now – to help these lads help the team, then I will,” Ford said.
“We are all teammates and we all want to help each other and as much as I can help this week, in whatever capacity, I will.
“I try and I pride myself in trying to be a good person and a good guy when it comes to helping others who are potentially playing in front of you.”
Ford will take part in the Champions Cup on Friday evening, while Sale will be looking to recover from defeat in Glasgow, where they will host Stuart Lancaster’s Racing 92.
After resting last weekend, other England internationals such as Luke Cowan-Dickie and Ben Curry are also expected to return to the Sharks squad, and Ford sees this as a great opportunity to build fitness and momentum from both an individual and team perspective.
“A lot of gaming these days – both in and out of gaming – is about how you react to certain things,” Ford said.
“There are a lot of ups and downs on the pitch and it’s the same in the bigger picture. The England boys came back and were a little depressed; some didn’t play much, some didn’t play much and it didn’t go the way we wanted.
“But what’s important is how you react, how you come back here, attack the club and hopefully get a run of games.
“I firmly believe that there will be bumps and rocks along the way, but the most important thing is to keep showing up and responding, and I think you will come out the other side more often than not.”
