Ross Ford
![]() Ford in 2017 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Birth name | Ross William Ford | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Date of birth | 23 April 1984 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Place of birth | Edinburgh, Scotland | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Height | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Weight | 115 kg (18 st 2 lb; 254 lb)[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
School | Kelso High School | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Occupation(s) | Strength and Conditioning coach | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Ross William Ford (born 23 April 1984)[1] is a Strength and Conditioning coach for the Scottish Rugby Academy.[2] He was previously a Scotland international rugby union player who played as a hooker. He made 110 test appearances for Scotland, making him their most-capped male player. He played in three World Cups (2007, 2011 and 2015) and toured with the British & Irish Lions in 2009, making one appearance.
Ford played professional rugby for Border Reivers (2002–2007) and then Edinburgh Rugby between 2007 and 2019.
Rugby Union career
[edit]Amateur career
[edit]Ross Ford grew up in Kelso and went to Kelso High School in the Scottish Borders. He played for Kelso Harlequins (u18s) and then Kelso RFC.
Professional career
[edit]In May 2002 Ford signed for Border Reivers, before he had finished school.[3]
Ford initially played at loose forward, but was convinced to switch to hooker while at Border Reivers.[4][5]
After the Reivers disbandment in the summer of 2007, Ford was left without a club. He initially signed for the Glasgow Warriors in August 2007[6] but on 18 October 2007 it was announced[7] that he had been transferred to Edinburgh who were back under the Scottish Rugby Union's control in that year.
Ford made his 150th appearance for Edinburgh in December 2015.[8]
International career
[edit]Ford was a member of the Commonwealth Games Scotland 7s squad at Manchester in 2002.[9]
Ford captained Scotland under-16 and has also represented his country at under-18 and under-19 level. He is a member of the Scottish Institute of Sport.[9]
Ford was first capped by the Scotland senior side in the 2004 Abbey Autumn Tests against Australia at Murrayfield, making his second appearance over a year later, coming on as a replacement against Wales in the 2006 RBS 6 Nations. After one further appearance against England he missed the 2006 summer tour to South Africa through a knee injury but returned to the Scotland squad in the 2007–08 season.
Ford made his first start in the RBS 6 Nations Championship in Scotland's final match of the 2007 competition, away to France.[10] He followed that up by winning plaudits for his line out throwing and play in both tight and loose in Scotland's World Cup warm-up victory against Ireland.
Ford was named in Scotland's Rugby World Cup 2007 squad, and became the first choice hooker after the previous #1 hooker Dougie Hall pulled out of the whole World Cup altogether with injury. In his first match at the tournament he came on as a replacement against Portugal and scored his first try for Scotland.[9][11]
In 2009, Ford was selected for the British & Irish Lions as a replacement for Jerry Flannery. He played for 50 minutes in the third test and was Scotland's only representative in the three test matches of that tour.[1][9][12] Ford was the captain of the Scotland Team for the 2012 Six Nations Championship[13] and the 2012 mid-year rugby test series.[14]
In June 2014 Ford made his 76th appearance and overtook Gordon Bulloch as Scotland's most-capped hooker.[15] In August 2015 he won his 88th cap against Italy, overtaking Scott Murray as Scotland's most capped forward.[16] His one hundredth cap came against Australia in November 2016, with only two other Scots previously having gained 100 caps- Chris Paterson and Sean Lamont.[17]
On 24 June 2017 Ford made his 110th test appearance for Scotland and overtook Chris Paterson as the most capped Scot.[18][19]
Coaching career
[edit]On 27 June 2019 it was announced that Ford was retired from playing rugby. Instead he took a role as a Strength and Conditioning coach at the Scottish Rugby Academy.[2]
Other
[edit]In 2011 Ford appeared on cereal boxes for Scott's Porage Oats along with Chris Paterson and Thom Evans.[20]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c "Player: Ross Ford". edinburghrugby.org. Edinburgh Rugby. Retrieved 26 February 2017.
- ^ a b "Scotland legend Ross Ford retires from rugby | SCRUM". scrummagazine.com. Archived from the original on 27 June 2019.
- ^ Ferguson, David (2 May 2002). "Borders put faith in youth". The Scotsman. Retrieved 5 March 2017.
- ^ Reid, Alasdair (2009) "Scotland's happy hooker Ross Ford is looking forward to the physical battle against Ireland", Daily Telegraph, 13 March 2009, retrieved 2010-08-30
- ^ Morrison, Iain (18 June 2010). "Rugby: Ross Ford's coach pulls a flanker". The Scotsman. Retrieved 23 March 2022.
- ^ "Ross Ford joins Glasgow Warriors". glasgowwarriors.com (unofficial fansite). 6 August 2007.
- ^ "Edinburgh latest stop for Ross Ford". glasgowwarriors.com (unofficial fansite). 18 October 2007.
- ^ Baldock, Andrew (24 December 2015). "Hooker Ford to reach major milestone for Edinburgh". Belfast Telegraph. Retrieved 23 March 2022.
- ^ a b c d "Ross Ford". Scottish Rugby. Retrieved 5 March 2017.
- ^ Fotheringham, William (17 March 2007). "Scots carefree to prey on France's nerves". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 February 2017.
- ^ "Scotland 56-10 Portugal". BBC News. 9 September 2007. Retrieved 5 March 2017.
- ^ Hands, David (2009) "Ross Ford called up to join Lions tour", The Times, 23 May 2009, retrieved 2010-08-30
- ^ Ferrie, Kevin (25 January 2012). "Ross Ford to captain Scotland in Six Nations". The Herald. Retrieved 22 March 2022.
- ^ Mason, Jim (17 May 2012). "No summer holiday for Scots tourists". BBC News. Retrieved 5 March 2017.
- ^ "Ford reaches Scotland milestone". BBC News. June 2014. Retrieved 11 February 2017.
- ^ Smith, Duncan (27 August 2015). "Cotter hails Ryan Wilson on return from ban". The Scotsman. Retrieved 23 March 2022.
- ^ Scott, Andrew (10 November 2016). "Ross Ford to earn 100th Scotland cap against Australia". STV News. Retrieved 13 February 2017.
- ^ "Fiji 27-22 Scotland: Scots pay price for errors in Suva". The Scotsman. 24 June 2017. Retrieved 22 March 2022.
- ^ Bathgate, Stuart (16 March 2017). "Ross Ford closes in on Chris Paterson's cap record". The Herald. Retrieved 22 March 2022.
- ^ "New porridge proves truly scrum-ptious: Scots rugby stars appear on iconic cereal pack". The Scotsman. 5 January 2010. Retrieved 23 March 2022.
External links
[edit]- 1984 births
- Living people
- Border Reivers players
- British & Irish Lions rugby union players from Scotland
- Edinburgh Rugby players
- Glasgow Warriors players
- Jed-Forest RFC players
- Kelso RFC players
- People educated at Kelso High School, Scotland
- Rugby union hookers
- Rugby union players from Kelso
- Rugby union strength and conditioning coaches
- Scotland international rugby union players
- Scottish rugby union coaches
- Scottish rugby union players
- 2007 Rugby World Cup players
- 2011 Rugby World Cup players
- 2015 Rugby World Cup players
- Scotland international rugby sevens players
- Rugby sevens players at the 2002 Commonwealth Games
- Commonwealth Games rugby sevens players for Scotland
- Male rugby sevens players