Doncaster Knights’ Steve Boden delighted to recruit someone with Joe Ford’s knowledge to staff

DONCASTER Knights head coach Steve Boden says Joe Ford’s rugby knowledge is “exceptional” and that is one of the principal reasons he brought the former Leicester Tigers fly-half onto his staff at Castle Park.
NEW RECRUIT: Former Yorkshire Carnegie player-coach Joe Ford has joined Doncaster KnightsNEW RECRUIT: Former Yorkshire Carnegie player-coach Joe Ford has joined Doncaster Knights
NEW RECRUIT: Former Yorkshire Carnegie player-coach Joe Ford has joined Doncaster Knights

Ford, 29, was player/head coach at Yorkshire Carnegie until leaving in January to take a break from the game to pursue business interests.

Boden is excited by what the ex-Sale Sharks player will add to Doncaster’s attack in 2020-21.

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They worked together previously at Carnegie and Boden admires Ford’s creative thinking.

EXCITED: Doncaster Knights coach Steve Boden is delighted to bring Joe Ford on boardEXCITED: Doncaster Knights coach Steve Boden is delighted to bring Joe Ford on board
EXCITED: Doncaster Knights coach Steve Boden is delighted to bring Joe Ford on board

“Joe is going to bring his own spin on stuff,” he said.

“He’s a young, hungry, ambitious coach and he’s desperate to start his coaching career.

“Even though Carnegie were getting 60 points put on them last season, there were parts of the attack that Joe was running that left you thinking ‘That’s really good.’ And he was working with players that – no disrespect to them – weren’t ready by a long shot for that level of rugby.

“I know Joe personally and first and foremost we’ve got a really good guy.

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“His knowledge is exceptional. His presentation skills to get that across to players really impressed me when I interviewed him.”

Doncaster, who have seen long-serving hooker Ben Hunter agree to stay on for a seventh successive campaign, will look to adopt a variety of styles under Boden.

He said: “I expect Joe to bring some real detail to our backline attack.

“A good thing about Joe is he’s just recently out of the game so he’s got a good understanding of where players are and he’s pretty up to date with everything that’s going on.”

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Leeds-born Boden is saddened to see how far Carnegie have fallen.

He joined as forwards coach from Jersey in 2016 and helped them to a Championship final before taking charge in 2018-19.

However, financial problems ripped them apart and this season the former Premiership club failed to win a game and were relegated to National League One.

“It is tough as I’ve moved on to other things and have a real close affiliation to and really care for Doncaster,” said Boden, who returned as assistant coach before now replacing Clive Griffiths.

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“I’ve a longer association with Doncaster than Carnegie. But there’s some really good people still involved there. The disappointing thing is there’s a lot of negative press around the club – and rightly so – but that negative press is around people who probably aren’t even there anymore.

“The people who are on the frontline trying to make something of the club, or keep it alive, are the ones copping all the stick. I find that most upsetting of all.”