Sometimes the grass isn’t greener after all. A host of others have either left Scotland already or are preparing to do so at the season’s end, but Ross Ford’s decision to remain, rumoured for some time but only confirmed yesterday, was based on his firm belief that his welfare as a player would be better served by staying put.
At 31, he is not exactly in his dotage, but the first thought of many in his position would have been to fill their boots with some of the eye-watering sums of money that English and French clubs have lately been splashing around. Ford, though, is still more interested in filling the Scotland jersey that he has already worn 97 times. As someone whose rugby cv also records an appearance in a Lions Test side, he had some tempting offers but, having considered his options, he concluded that three more years with Edinburgh was still the one to follow.
Others — Greig Laidlaw being a recent example — have talked of how their games were enhanced by moving out of Scotland. Did Ford not think the same? “Not really,” he shrugged. “I don’t think there’s anything anywhere else that would improve me drastically as a player. It’s just different surroundings. I’m very happy with how Edinburgh want to go forward and how the young boys here are coming through. That’s only going to continue, and I want to be part of that.
“I had a few offers. Again, staying in Edinburgh, in Scotland especially, you do get looked after better than if you go outwith the SRU; that was a big thing. I want to play international rugby as long as I possibly can, while I’m good enough to do that. So I could have gone somewhere else, but the fact that you do get looked after better here was one of the factors that I had to weigh up.”
Sitting fifth in the Guinness PRO12 table, Edinburgh are on track to secure the top-six finish that would bring them automatic entry into next season’s European Champions Cup. Had they been languishing near the bottom, Ford might have been persuaded to leave but he has faith in the side he joined nine years ago following the demise of the Border Reivers.
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And he has faith in Alan Solomons, the coach, and the way the club is moving. “I like the vision Alan has got for the club,” he said. “It’s taken some time to get there but we had a good run in Europe last year, and this year again we’ve got everything under control in the league, which is good. We’re in a good place at this moment.
“I want to be part of a winning Edinburgh team, winning trophies, and I think we’ve got an opportunity to do that. So it was an easy choice to stay. I’m playing well, I’m healthy and I’m fit. I want to be able to go on as long as possible and help Edinburgh move forward. The three years allow me to pass on a bit of knowledge to younger boys as well, as they’re coming through, and hopefully that helps everybody: helps the club and pushes me on.”
A prodigy as a teenager, Ford joined Reivers straight from school and was a member of the Scotland sevens squad at the 2002 Commonwealth Games. Back then, though, he was a flanker, cutting a rather leaner figure than the burly, muscle-bound hooker he has become. It was famously difficult, and often frustrating, transition but he had such an appetite for self improvement that he was a full Scotland player in his new position by the time he was 21.
That speaks of a certain determination, but there has always been a whiff of the obsessive about Ford as well. A few months before the 2011 World Cup he was ordered to take time out of the game because he had succumbed to overtraining syndrome, showing the classic symptoms of an elevated resting heartbeat and persistent fatigue. “I enjoyed what I was doing, so I did lots of it,” he shrugged.
Yet he also admits that he has been guilty of taking rugby too seriously at times. Asked what advice he would offer to his younger self now, he said: “I think I would probably say, ‘just be a bit more relaxed.’ You get hyped up at times and worry about a lot of things, so you should just relax a bit more. You get more perspective as you get older and from the things you go through in life. I think I would be a lot more laid back at times than I was in the past.”
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He is certainly not troubled by the suggestion that Edinburgh, with a budget that is miniscule in comparison to what some French and English sides can now spend, are bound to be European also-rans in the seasons ahead. “Some clubs throw about ridiculous money to get players, but it doesn’t mean they have a better team,” he said. “Individuals could be good, but it’s how you work as a team. They can throw all the money they want about, but it doesn’t buy you team spirit. It’s how the individuals work together that you get the results at the end of the day.
“I think you can see it [Edinburgh’s team spirit] in the way we play on the park. As a player group we are very tight and get on well together. I think the biggest thing is the way we play; it shows there that everyone is working hard for each other. There are no egos here. It’s just that everyone working for the same goal.”