Amateur career Ross Ford grew up in
Kelso in the
Scottish Borders and attended the
town's high school. He played for Kelso Harlequins (U18) and then
Kelso RFC.
Professional career In May 2002, Ford signed for
Border Reivers, before he had finished school. Ford initially played in the
back row, but was convinced to switch to hooker while at Border Reivers. 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 but on 18 October 2007 it was announced 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.
International career Ford was a member of the
Scotland 7s squad at the
2002 Commonwealth Games in
Manchester. 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
Dougie Hall pulled out of the World Cup with injury. In his first match at the tournament, he came on as a replacement against Portugal and scored his first try for Scotland. 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. Ford was the captain of the Scotland Team for the
2012 Six Nations Championship and the
2012 mid-year rugby test series. In June 2014, Ford made his 76th appearance, overtaking
Gordon Bulloch as Scotland's hughest-capped hooker; and in August 2015 he won his 88th cap against Italy, overtaking
Scott Murray as Scotland's most capped forward. His centenary cap came against Australia in November 2016, joining
Chris Paterson and
Sean Lamont in winning a centenary of caps for Scotland. On 24 June 2017, Ford made his 110th test appearance for Scotland, overtaking Chris Paterson as the highest-capped Scottish player.
Coaching career On 27 June 2019, Ford announced his retirement from playing. Afterward, he took up a role as a strength and conditioning coach at the
Scottish Rugby Academy. ==Other==