Champ Rugby's Doncaster turn to another famous name for a boost

Doncaster Knights have appointed Jacob Ford as attack coach as they attempt to put a disappointing start to the Champ Rugby season behind them.

The South Yorkshire outfit edged fellow full-timers Coventry, 22-21, on Saturday, and are one of only two teams to have beaten Worcester Warriors. But in their first season under head coach Darren Fearn, the Knights are still languishing in 10th place eight games into the regular season.

Fearn was promoted from his role as forwards coach in the summer, following the departure of Jacob’s older brother, Joe Ford, to Sale Sharks.

Doncaster are one of only two clubs in the top 10 of the Champ to have scored fewer than 200 points this season. And the Knights, who have Sir Ian McGeechan as their Director of Rugby, have turned to another famous name to increase their threat with ball in hand.

Still in his 20s, Jacob Ford has built up an impressive coaching CV after deciding not pursue a pro playing career like Joe and England caps centurion, George, the middle of three sons of former Lions, England and Ireland defence coach, Mike Ford.

Ford joins the Knights having spent the four months of the 2025-26 season working as a national talent pathway coach with the SRU, as well as assisting Glasgow Warriors.

Before that, he was a performance coach at Loughborough University, headed up the rugby programme at Ipswich School, and was Director of Rugby in the National Leagues with Westcliff RFC and Bury St Edmunds. Under Ford, Bury reached their highest-ever league position.

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“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,” said McGeechan.

“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.”

In an earlier interview, Ford, the youngest person to pass an RFU Level 3 course by some years, says his dad’s sacking at Bath in May 2016 contributed to his career choice.

“I was at Wasps’ academy originally for a year but then my dad got the Bath job and it was easier for me to go there because that’s where we were living. I got an ankle injury but played the last year in the academy and was all set to go to Bath Uni, who had a link with the club, but that all fell through when my dad left the club,” he explained.

“That’s how I got into coaching because I set up a rugby programme at Rishworth School (where the Fords were educated), which was my first coaching gig really, as well as working with all the different age groups at Yorkshire Carnegie academy.

“I loved playing, I was a 10 who played a fair bit at full-back and sometimes at centre, but first and foremost I felt I was better at coaching. I understood the game and what I needed to do as a player, but sometimes I couldn’t actually do it, or I was more interested in the analysis side of things and standing back and looking at the bigger picture. You can’t do that when you are playing.”