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.
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]
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 2006RBS 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 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
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]
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