Introduction
Mike A. Ford (born 18 November 1965) born in Oldham, is an English former rugby league player and rugby union coach. Two of his sons currently play rugby union: George plays for Leicester Tigers; Joe for Yorkshire Carnegie. He attended Saddleworth School from 1976-1981
Playing career
Ford played rugby league as a Scrum-half/Halfback, playing for Wigan, Leigh, Oldham (twice), Sydney Roosters, Castleford (twice), South Queensland Crushers, Warrington, Wakefield Trinity (Heritage № 1097), and Bramley. He won 10 caps for Great Britain.
Ford played Scrum-half/Halfback in Wigan's 14-8 victory over New Zealand in the 1985 New Zealand rugby league tour of Great Britain and France match at Central Park, Wigan on Sunday 6 October 1985.
Ford played Scrum-half/Halfback in Wigan's 34-8 victory over Warrington in the 1985 Lancashire County Cup Final during the 1985–86 season at Knowsley Road, St. Helens on Sunday 13 October 1985, played Scrum-half/Halfback, scored a try, and was man of the match in the 27-6 victory over Oldham in the 1986 Lancashire County Cup Final during the 1986–87 season at Knowsley Road, St. Helens on Sunday 19 October 1986, played Stand-off/Five-eighth in Oldham's 16-24 defeat by Warrington in the 1989 Lancashire County Cup Final during the 1989–90 season at Knowsley Road, St. Helens on Saturday 14 October 1989, and played, and scored a try in Castleford's 28-6 victory over Bradford Northern in the 1991 Yorkshire County Cup Final during the 1991–92 season at Elland Road, Leeds on Sunday 20 October 1991.
Ford played Scrum-half/Halfback in Wigan's 18-4 victory over Hull Kingston Rovers in the 1985–86 John Player Special Trophy Final during the 1985–86 season at Elland Road, Leeds on Saturday 11 January 1986, and played Scrum-half/Halfback in Castleford Tigers' 33-2 victory over Wigan in the 1993–94 Regal Trophy Final during the 1993–94 season at Headingley Rugby Stadium, Leeds on Saturday 22 January 1994.
Mike Ford played Scrum-half/Halfback in Castleford's 12-28 defeat by Wigan in the 1992 Challenge Cup Final during the 1991–92 season at Wembley Stadium, London on Saturday 2 May 1992, in front of a crowd of 77,386.
Ford is a Castleford Tigers Hall Of Fame Inductee.
Ford played just 15 games for South Queensland Crushers
Coaching career
In 1999, Ford joined Bramley as a player-coach, and joined Oldham in a similar role a year later. He retired from playing in 2001 after guiding Oldham to the championship Grand Final. Whilst at Oldham, he started coaching rugby union at Dukinfield RUFC for 5 seasons winning a cup and two promotions. He left Oldham RLFC to take over as Defensive Co-ordinator of Ireland in January 2002 and stayed for 4 seasons winning a triple crown and guiding Ireland to 3rd in the world rankings. In September 2004 he started working as a defence and skills coach at Saracens F.C., before taking over as head coach in August 2005.
He served as a defence coach for the midweek team on the 2005 British and Irish Lions tour to New Zealand, remaining undefeated from 7 games (the test side lost the series lost 3-0) and left his position with Ireland in September 2005.
In May 2006 he became defence coach of the England national rugby union team, part of the coaching team that guided England to the 2007 RWC Final. The England playing record with Ford as defence coach is;
- Played 68, Won 34, Lost 33, Drawn 1,
- Against 3N, Played 22, Won 4, Lost 18
- Least points conceded in 2009 Six Nations (70) and least tries conceded in the 2010 Six Nations (5), Least tries conceded in the pool stages of the 2011RWC
Deciding not to seek a renewal of his contract, he joined the coaching staff at Bath Rugby.
Became Head coach at Bath in May 2013 and guided them to a Champions Cup spot and an Amlin challenge cup Final. In 2014/15 Bath finish 2nd in the Premiership and lost in the Aviva Premiership Final to Saracens. Mike was awarded DOR award in 2015 and George Player of year 2015.
He parted company from Bath in May 2016 after they had finished 9th in the league.
He joined Toulon as head coach in October 2016