Ross Ford is not Andy Robinson’s first choice as Scotland captain, but he has full confidence in the hooker’s credentials to lead his country throughout the RBS Six Nations Championship.
Ford said he was ”honoured and privileged” to get the job, believing he was far more ready now than he had been when he entered the national squad’s leadership group three years ago.
He continued: ”I said when I joined that group that I’d mostly lead by example, and that’s how I’ll do it as captain. To be honest, I could have taken on the job then but I’d have been apprehensive about it.
”I’ve changed in that respect these last two or three years, now I’m at the stage that I’ll be comfortable in the role, in my abilities and what I have to say.
”It’s not the official part of the job although there is that as well it’s understanding through experiences I’ve had being in the leadership group and playing. I wasn’t as rounded a player to be captain two to three years ago that I am now.”
Ford originally came through the ranks as a flanker, and was only converted to hooker in his first year as a professional on the advice of former Border Reivers coach, Tony Gilbert.
He became ”the project” in the early years of professionalism, winning his first cap in 2004, but not his first start until three years later against France in Paris, from when he has been first choice and accumulated 53 caps.
Ford toured with the Lions in South Africa in 2009 and such was his commitment that he had to be rested with ”over-training syndrome” at the end of last season.
”That taught me that it was better sometimes to have confidence in what I know and leave something on the training pitch for the match at the weekend,” he said.
Photo by Lynne Cameron/PA Wire
The 27-year-old British Lion takes the role having been told last week that team-mate Kelly Brown had been offered and accepted the captaincy, only for the Melrose flanker to suffer an leg injury that will require surgery.
Brown is out for the championship, but Robinson has opted to stick with his new policy of naming a captain for the whole championship who is guaranteed his place in the starting team.
The head coach accepted criticism for handing out the role on a match-by-match basis during the World Cup in New Zealand, when both Al Kellock and Rory Lawson led the side in some matches and weren’t even required for the replacements bench the next.
Candidates for the job like Kellock, Lawson, Chris Cusiter and Mike Blair clearly are not regarded as certain picks as Ford, the first captain from the Kelso club since Gary Callander in 1988.
Robinson said: ”In the last couple of years Ross has been in the leadership group, spoken very well especially on defence and set-piece, and this is the next challenge for him. I told Ross and a number of senior players last week that I’d asked Kelly to be captain and he had accepted, and I told the squad on Monday, but obviously his injury occurred and Ross had been one of the players I had been considering for the role, so it felt right to ask him to captain the side.
”I have every confidence in him and the way he’ll approach this. He’ll do it his way, which is to lead from the front and at the coal face.”
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