Ford: Fresh faces taking club to the next level
JACOB Ford came and the records fell at Bury St Edmunds.
Ford finished sixth in his first season in charge before securing the club's highest-ever place in the National Leagues last season with a fifth-place finish in National 2 East.
Now they are looking to their 25-year-old director of rugby to engineer something even more special. But Ford refuses to let a narrow focus on results get in the way of crafting a style that Bury can say is their own.
Ford, the younger brother of England fly- -half George, told The Rugby Paper: “Since I arrived, we've been trying to create a game model and a way of playing that's quite unique to us. We feel like we play a lot more than most teams.
“To play at a speed that forces teams have to keep up with us, to play at an intensity that backs our fitness, backs the ball in play and dominates possession, that's what we've been trying to develop.”
The Bury brand of rugby has delivered once again so far this season, keeping the team on pace to match last season's fifth place.
Doing so has taken a whole-team effort, with 12 players in double figures for points only eight games into the campaign.
On his team's egalitarian play, Ford said: “This season, we have many different options that we can utilise, which creates a bit of variety in our play. When we've got a lot of ball carriers, working hard to get that speed of ball, multiple players can score.”
Crucial to this team's united approach has been the integration of 14 new players brought in over the summer to balance the departures of multiple club stalwarts.
On managing this turnover, Ford said: “After every season, you always have a natural change of players. We do miss those boys being around, but the new players have done an excellent job of taking our performances and our environment to the next level.
“The critical outcome was to make sure we're all on the same page. Now we have a collective togetherness and a direction we're moving towards.”
That's been shown on the pitch, with Bury boasting the third most prolific attack in the division, to go along with the second stingiest defence.
It could even be suggested they may be a tad unlucky not to sit higher in the rankings at the moment, given the kinds of performances they've put in. But Ford has little time for any talk of excuses. Instead, his twin focuses going forward are attitude and execution.
He said: “We don't worry too much about the opposition. All we care about is making sure we're a better version of ourselves than the day before. It's the things that don't require talent that will show up in big games like this against top of the league.
“If we want it a little bit more than them, we've got a brilliant chance.”
