Ross Ford is retiring from professional rugby, drawing a line under a career that saw him win a record number of Scotland caps.

The 35-year-old hooker has played his final game for Edinburgh and will now take up a position developing young player in the Borders.

Ford began his career at Border Reivers in 2004 and won his first Scotland cap in the same year. He earned a record 110 caps for his country, making his last appearance in dark blue in 2017.

"I've been very fortunate," he said. "I've had a long career in the sport and have been able to represent my country at the highest level, playing in a lot of great places around the world.

"I've met some characters along the way and overall just feel very lucky to have played a sport that I love and make a living in the process.

"I never had any specific targets in mind, it [reaching 110 caps] just kind of crept up on me. I recognise it as a big achievement but it's just something that came hand-in-hand with playing the sport.

"Mossy [Chris Paterson] got over 100 and Sean [Lamont] is up over 100 as well. I never set out to get to get certain number or beat them. I just kept playing because I was enjoying it."

Ford will now turn his attention to strength and conditioning work with the next generation of players.

He said: "I always enjoyed the S&C side of things. It was always a big part of my game and it was something I was good at.

"Later in my career I took a big interest in it and it became something I wanted to do after I finished playing, so I was really keen when this opportunity came up, especially being a Borders lad as well.

"There's a lot of talent here so if I can help them develop and make this one part of their game world class then, hopefully, they'll come through and go on to bigger and better things."