Sale Sharks close in on Jacob Ford as Newcastle move for Doncaster head coach Fearn

Doncaster Knights are poised to lose both their head coach and attack coach to Premiership clubs, with deals for Darren Fearn and Jacob Ford expected to be announced as early as next week.

Fearn will leave his role as Knights head coach after just one season to return to Newcastle, the club where he played as a prop and later coached. He stepped up to the head coach position at the start of the 2025/26 season when his predecessor Joe Ford departed for Sale Sharks, having previously served Doncaster as forwards coach. Beyond his playing and coaching career at Newcastle, Fearn is a well-known figure in north-east rugby through his work with Northumbria University and as Director of Rugby at Newcastle University.

Jacob Ford, who joined Doncaster as attack coach in December after spells in the National Leagues with Bury St Edmunds and Westcliff, is believed to have accepted an offer to become a transition coach at Sale. The move would make him the third Ford brother on the Sharks’ books, alongside England fly-half George and attack coach Joe, who has taken on greater responsibility as Alex Sanderson’s right-hand man following Marco Bortolami’s brief and abrupt tenure as head coach earlier this season.

The twin departures represent a significant blow to Doncaster, a club that has struggled to maintain coaching stability since Steve Boden left in February 2024. Club stalwart Tyson Lewis, who held various coaching roles after retiring as a player, also departed earlier this month.

Doncaster’s reported plan to revert to a part-time model next season may have influenced both Fearn and Ford’s decisions to pursue full-time opportunities elsewhere.