Ford goes Stateside

MIKE FORD flies out to the United States this week to begin life as director of rugby at Dallas Griffins.

It is a change of scene and pace for the former Bath coach, below, who was sacked by Toulon last season.

The US remains a rugby backwater with Dallas competing in Major League Rugby, a start-up competition featuring a mix of semi-pro and professional players with three teams in Texas and one each in Colorado, Kansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Utah and Washington State. The new league, which launches in the spring, replaces Pro Rugby USA which folded after one season, and the pressure gauge will be set considerably lower for Ford than in the French madhouse he was involved in. But the States is an untapped golden goose for every sport and rugby union has its hooks in, what with the sport back in the Olympics via the sevens. Saracens and Newcastle will play an on-the-road match in Philadelphia this weekend as the Premiership heads across the Atlantic for a second season.