Gary Gold was appointed Newcastle Falcons director of rugby in January 2012. He was joined at Kingston Park by Mike Ford who fulfils the role of defence coach. Gold spent four years as assistant coach at South Africa before his switch to Tyneside. The former Springboks coach has vast Super 14 and Premiership experience having being head coach at London Irish and Western Province respectively. Joining the Springboks as forwards coach in 2008 under head coach Peter de Villiers, Gold was part of the South Africa set-up which won the Tri-Nations as well as the British and Irish Lions series in 2009.