Biography

Doncaster Knights are pleased to announce the appointment of Jacob Ford as the club’s new Attack Coach, joining the senior coaching team with immediate effect.

Ford arrives at Castle Park with a strong reputation for developing dynamic, high-tempo, and attack-minded teams. His experience spans senior club rugby, performance programmes, schools rugby, and national talent pathways, bringing a well-rounded and progressive coaching skill set to the Knights.

Ford completes his move to Doncaster following four influential seasons as Director of Rugby at Bury St Edmunds, where he oversaw significant growth across the club. Under his leadership, the Men’s 1st XV achieved their highest-ever National League finish and developed a distinctive fast-flowing, high-scoring style of play. His work also had a lasting impact across the wider club structure, helping raise performance standards both on and off the field.

Prior to his time at Bury, Ford served as Director of Rugby at Westcliff RFC between 2019 and 2021, guiding the club through National League competition and supporting long-term development. He also spent the 2018/19 season as a Performance Rugby Coach at Loughborough University, contributing to one of the UK’s leading high-performance sporting environments.

His background includes five years as Head of Rugby at Ipswich School, where he led a successful rugby programme within one of the region’s strongest sporting schools. Most recently, Ford has been part of Scottish Rugby’s National Talent Pathway, supporting the identification and development of emerging players within the national system. 

Ford is a name we are familiar with here at the Knights as his brother and former head coach, Joe Ford recently left the club for an exciting opportunity at Sale Sharks. Meaning Jacob too comes from a well-known rugby family, with deep roots in the sport. This background has helped shape his understanding of high-performance environments and modern attacking rugby. 

Director of Rugby Sir Ian McGeechan said: “We are delighted to welcome Jacob to the Knights. He knows our Head Coach, Darren Fearn very well after being with him on the RFU Coach Development  programmes and with the link via Joe, he understands and shares our club coaching and playing philosophy which has been evolving over the last 12 months.”

“We would like to thank Glasgow Rugby and the SRU for supporting this opportunity for Jacob to continue his development at the Knights. He is an outstanding asset for the club to secure.” 

Ford’s appointment strengthens the Knights’ coaching group and aligns with the club’s ambition to play an exciting brand of rugby. The club looks forward to the impact Ford will make as we enter the next block of the 25/26 season.