Dean Richards (born 11 July 1963) is a rugby union coach and former player for

Leicester Tigers Leicester Tigers (officially Leicester Football Club) are a professional rugby union club based in Leicester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was founded in 1880 and since 1892 plays its home ...

, and

British & Irish Lions The British & Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for the national teams of England national rugby union team, England, Ireland national rugby union team, Ireland, Scotland national rugby union team, Scotland, and ...

. He was most recently the Director of Rugby at

Newcastle Falcons Newcastle Falcons is a rugby union team that play in Premiership Rugby, England's highest division of rugby union. The club was established in 1877 as the Gosforth Football Club. Around 1882 the club merged with the Northumberland Football Cl ...

, a position he held for ten years between 2012 and 2022. Richards was a number eight and played 314 games for

between 1982 and 1997, he was captain as Leicester won the 1994-95 Courage League and the 1997 Pilkington Cup, and also played as Leicester won the inaugural English league title in 1987–88 and the 1993 Pilkington Cup. He played 48 times for between 1986 and 1996, a world record number of caps for his position at the time, including the

1987 Events January * January 1 – Bolivia reintroduces the Boliviano currency. * January 2 – Chadian–Libyan conflict – Battle of Fada: The Military of Chad, Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade. * January 3 – Afghan leader ...

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

and

1995 Rugby World Cup The 1995 Rugby World Cup (), was the third Rugby World Cup. It was hosted and won by South Africa, and was the first Rugby World Cup in which every match was held in one country. The World Cup was the first major sporting event to take place in ...

s, and represented the British Lions on their 1989 tour to Australia and 1993 tour to New Zealand playing in six international matches. He was widely regarded as one of the best number eights to have played the game. In 1998 he retired from playing and was immediately appointed

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

Director of Rugby. Leicester won the

Premiership Rugby Premiership Rugby, officially known as Gallagher Premiership Rugby, or the Gallagher Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is an English professional rugby union competition, consisting of 10 clubs, and is the top division of the English rugby ...

title in Richards' first four seasons in charge and also won the

Heineken Cup The European Rugby Champions Cup (known as the Investec Champions Cup for sponsorship reasons) is an annual rugby union tournament organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the top-tier competition for clubs who compete in a pre ...

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

and

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

, the first side to retain the trophy. Richards spent one year with

FC Grenoble The Football Club de Grenoble Rugby (FCG) is a French rugby union club based in Grenoble and founded in 1892. FCG was champion of France in 1953–54 French Rugby Union Championship, 1954 and runner-up in 1992–93 French Rugby Union Championshi ...

in France's

Top 16 The Top 14 () is a professional rugby union club competition that is played in France. Created in 1892, the Top 14 is at the top of the national league system operated by the National Rugby League (France), France National Rugby League, also ...

. He then joined Harlequins from 2005 to 2009, winning the second division in 2006, and leading them to second in the Premiership in 2009. He was banned from coaching for the next three years following the

Bloodgate Bloodgate was a rugby union scandal involving English team Harlequins in their Heineken Cup quarter-final against Irish side Leinster on 12 April 2009. Harlequins wing Tom Williams feigned an injury using a fake blood capsule in order for Har ...

scandal. After the expiration of his ban he was appointed by

and won the second division again in 2013.

Playing career

Junior honours and Leicester debut

Richards was schooled at John Cleveland College, in

Hinckley Hinckley is a market town in south-west Leicestershire, England, administered by Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council. Hinckley is the third largest settlement in Leicestershire, after Leicester and Loughborough, and is about halfway between L ...

, and was capped three times for England Schools in 1981. He played for Roanne in France for a year before returning to England to play for

. Richards made his debut for Leicester as an 18 year old on 10 April 1982 in a match against

Neath RFC Neath Rugby Football Club () is a Welsh rugby union club which plays in the Indigo Premiership for Season 2024/25. The club's home ground is The Gnoll, Neath. The team is known as the All Blacks because of the team colours: black with only a whi ...

. He began playing regularly for the side the following season, replacing Nick Jackson as Tigers regular number eight Richards started 25 of final 28 games of the 1982–83 season including all five rounds of

1982–83 John Player Cup The 1982–83 John Player Cup was the 12th edition of England's premier rugby union club competition at the time. Bristol won the competition defeating Leicester in the final. The event was sponsored by John Player cigarettes and the final was hel ...

as Leicester reached the final only to lose to

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

. He played for the

Barbarians A barbarian is a person or tribe of people that is perceived to be primitive, savage and warlike. Many cultures have referred to other cultures as barbarians, sometimes out of misunderstanding and sometimes out of prejudice. A "barbarian" may ...

in 1983 and was selected the same year for the England's Under-23s tour to Romania.

1983–89: England debut, first Leicester title and Lions

Richards continued in as a regular in Leicester's backrow and was the club's top try scorer with 20 tries in both the 1985–86 season, and 1986–87. He made his senior debut on 1 March 1986, against at

Twickenham Twickenham ( ) is a suburban district of London, England, on the River Thames southwest of Charing Cross. Historic counties of England, Historically in Middlesex, since 1965 it has formed part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, who ...

in the

1986 Five Nations Championship The 1986 Five Nations Championship was the fifty-seventh series of the rugby union Five Nations Championship. Including the previous incarnations as the Home Nations and Five Nations, this was the ninety-second series of the northern hemisphere r ...

, scoring two tries in a 25–20 points win. Richards played in four matches at the inaugural

Rugby World Cup The Men's Rugby World Cup is a rugby union tournament contested every four years between the top international teams, the winners of which are recognised as the World championship, world champions of the sport. The tournament is administer ...

. After the

1988 Five Nations Championship The 1988 Five Nations Championship was the 59th series of the rugby union Five Nations Championship. Including the previous incarnations as the Home Nations and Five Nations, this was the ninety–fourth series of the northern hemisphere rugby uni ...

match between Scotland and England Richards received a one match ban from the

Rugby Football Union The Rugby Football Union (RFU) is the Sports governing body, national governing body for rugby union in England. It was founded in 1871, and was the sport's international governing body prior to the formation of what is now known as World Rugby ...

after an incident post match which damaged the

Calcutta Cup The Calcutta Cup is the trophy awarded to the winner of the rugby match between teams of England and Scotland played annually in the Six Nations Championship. Like the match itself (England–Scotland), the Calcutta Cup is the oldest trophy con ...

. Richards won the first club silverware of his career when Leicester beat

Waterloo Waterloo most commonly refers to: * Battle of Waterloo, 1815 battle where Napoleon's French army was defeated by Anglo-allied and Prussian forces * Waterloo, Belgium Waterloo may also refer to: Other places Australia * Waterloo, New South Wale ...

to win the 1987–88 Courage League, England's first official league title. Richards was selected alongside three other Leicester players for England's tour of Australia and Fiji. Injuries limited Richards to only 15 appearances for Leicester in 1988–89, though he was able to feature in the losing 1988–89 Pilkington Cup final against

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

, before being selected for the

1989 British Lions tour to Australia In 1989, the British Lions toured Australia for the first time since 1971. Unlike previous tours to Australia, the Lions did not play any matches in New Zealand, this being the first Australia-only tour since 1899. The side was captained by Fi ...

. Richards played in all three tests for the Lions and his powerful mauling play was the bedrock of the Lions success.

1989–94: Grandslams, Cup win and Lions tour

On his return from Australia Richards was appointed Leicester captain but injured his shoulder in only the second match of the season, the injury proved so serious he missed the rest of the 1989–90 season. He returned to fitness for the 1990–91 season and resumed the captaincy of Leicester, leading Leicester to fourth in the

1990–91 Courage League Year 199 ( CXCIX) was a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was sometimes known as year 952 ''Ab urbe condita''. The denomination 199 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno D ...

. Internationally Richards started all four of England's games in their 1991 Five Nations grandslam, toured Australia and Fiji and was named in England's 1991 World Cup squad. Richards was controversially dropped after a pool stage victory against the as England made the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

but lost to . Richards was recalled for England during the

1992 Five Nations Championship The 1992 Five Nations Championship was the 63rd series of the Five Nations Championship, an annual rugby union competition between the major Northern Hemisphere rugby union national teams. The tournament consisted of ten matches held between 18 J ...

, where they won a second successive grandslam. Due to injury to Martin Johnson, Richards started the 1992–93 season in Leicester's second row, but returned to his accustomed position of number eight by the time of the 1992–93 Pilkington Cup first round match against London Scottish. Richards started all five matches as Tigers won the cup, including scoring tries in both the quarter and semi-final. Despite not being selected for England in the

1993 Five Nations Championship The 1993 Five Nations Championship was the 64th series of the Five Nations Championship, an annual rugby union competition between the major Northern Hemisphere rugby union national teams. The tournament consisted of 10 matches held between 16 Jan ...

, Richards was picked for the

1993 British Lions tour to New Zealand In 1993 the British Lions rugby union team toured New Zealand. This was the last Lions tour in the sport's amateur era. The Lions were managed by Geoff Cooke, coached by Ian McGeechan and Dick Best, and captained by Gavin Hastings. The Lio ...

and started in all three test matches. He also captained the Lions in a non-cap match against

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the county of Kent, England; it was a county borough until 1974. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. The city has a mild oceanic climat ...

. After the tour Richards was again appointed Leicester's captain, a position he held until he retired.

1994–97 Club and international success to retirement

Richards only scored one try for Leicester in the 1994–95 season but it was a significant one, on 27 December 1994 he scored his 100th try for the club becoming only the second forward to do so after David Matthews. That season Leicester also went on to win the 1994-95 Courage League, Richards played in the final game of the season and as captained lifted Leicester's second league title at Welford Road. In international rugby Richards was an ever-present for in their 1995 grandslam, his third. He was selected in England's 1995 World Cup squad, overlooked for the first two group stage matches he was recalled for the final pool game against and played in the quarter-final against and the semi-final against . The 1995–96 season was one of near misses for Leicester as they lost the 1995-96 Courage League on the last day of the season with a home defeat to Harlequins and then lost the 1996 Pilkington Cup Final to

with a controversial last minute penalty try. The following season, Richards led Leicester to their first

final against

Brive Brive-la-Gaillarde (; Limousin dialect of ), commonly known as simply Brive, is a commune of France. It is a sub-prefecture and the largest city of the Corrèze department. It has around 46,000 inhabitants, while the population of the agglome ...

, at

Cardiff Arms Park Cardiff Arms Park (), also known as The Arms Park, is primarily a rugby union stadium, and also has a bowling green. It is situated in Cardiff, Wales, next to the Millennium Stadium. The Arms Park was host to the 1958 British Empire and Common ...

, which was won by Brive by 28 points to nine. Richards made his 300th appearance for Leicester on 25 February 1997 in a match at Welford Road against the

. The final match in his career was played on 30 December 1997, against

, at Welford Road.

Personal life

Richards was a

police constable A constable is a person holding a particular office, most commonly in law enforcement. The office of constable can vary significantly in different jurisdictions. ''Constable'' is commonly the rank of an police officer, officer within a police ser ...

for

Leicestershire Constabulary Leicestershire Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing the counties of Leicestershire and Rutland in England. Its headquarters are at Enderby, Leicestershire. History Leicestershire Police was formed in 1839. In 1951 ...

between the 1980s and 1990s before English rugby union became professional. In 1995, he received an Honorary Master of Arts award from

Loughborough University Loughborough University (abbreviated as ''Lough'' or ''Lboro'' for Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a public university, public research university in the market town of Loughborough, Leicestershire, England. It has been a university sinc ...

. He was appointed MBE in the

1996 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1996 were appointments by most of the sixteen Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries, and honorary ones to citizens of other c ...

Coaching career

Leicester

Richards took over from

Bob Dwyer Bob Dwyer AM (born 29 November 1940) is an Australian rugby union coach. Early life Educated at Sydney Boys High School, from which he graduated in 1957, Dwyer played 2nd XV rugby for the school, lining up alongside former Canterbury-Bankstow ...

as coach of Leicester in 1998, and in his first full season as Director of Rugby won the Allied Dunbar Premiership, the third time in club history. Tigers successfully defended the title for four consecutive seasons under him. Leicester also won two

s, defeating

Stade Français Stade Français Paris (known commonly as Stade Français, ) is a French professional rugby union club based in the 16th arrondissement of Paris. The club plays in the Top 14 domestic league in France and is one of the most successful French ...

34–30 in 2001 and beating

Munster Munster ( or ) is the largest of the four provinces of Ireland, located in the south west of the island. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" (). Following the Nor ...

15–9 in 2002. After two trophy-less seasons and a failure to get out of the pool in Europe, Richards left the club in February 2004, ending a 23-year association with the club.

Grenoble

In June 2004, Richards was appointed as coach at French club

for the following season. Grenoble struggled in the French rugby championship and it was announced in May 2005 that Richards would leave the club at the end of the season by mutual consent.

Harlequins

He was appointed Director of Rugby at Harlequins in May 2005 following their relegation from the

Zurich Premiership Premiership Rugby, officially known as Gallagher Premiership Rugby, or the Gallagher Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is an English professional rugby union competition, consisting of 10 clubs, and is the top division of the English rugby u ...

in the 2004–05 season, and led them back to the Premiership at the first attempt, in a season where they lost only one league game.

Bloodgate

Richards resigned from Harlequins in August 2009 after an incident which became known as

. He had orchestrated and had "central control" over a fake blood injury to Harlequins player Tom Williams to bring a more experienced replacement kicker onto the field during a Heineken Cup match against

Leinster Leinster ( ; or ) is one of the four provinces of Ireland, in the southeast of Ireland. The modern province comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Meath, Leinster and Osraige, which existed during Gaelic Ireland. Following the 12th-century ...

. With the game poised at 6-5 late in the second half, a successful penalty kick would have resulted in a place in the semifinals for Harlequins. Richards was found to have been involved in four similar incidents, and was banned from coaching for three seasons. Harlequins were fined £259,000, and Williams was banned for four months. Harlequins' physiotherapist Steph Brennan was banned for two years. The doctor involved, Wendy Chapman, who cut the player's lip to try to cover up the incident, was reprimanded by the Medical Council, but escaped a ban.

Newcastle

In spring 2012 Richards was named Director of Rugby at Newcastle Falcons when his ban ended in August and, as he had with Harlequins, led Newcastle to promotion back to the Premiership at the first attempt. Richards led the Falcons to an 8th-place finish in the 2016-17 Aviva Premiership, with Falcons ending up just 3 points off the top 6. This was their best finish in 11 years, and their biggest number of wins in 15 years. In May 2022, it was announced that Richards would be stepping down as Director of Rugby at the end of the season but continuing to work as a part-time consultant for the Falcons.

Sources

References

External links

Harlequins profile

sporting-heroes.net – Dean Richards

Lions Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Richards, Dean 1963 births Living people English rugby union executives English rugby union coaches English rugby union players Leicester Tigers players England international rugby union players Rugby union controversies Leicester Tigers coaches Rugby union players from Nuneaton British & Irish Lions rugby union players from England 1987 Rugby World Cup players 1991 Rugby World Cup players 1995 Rugby World Cup players Rugby union number eights 20th-century English sportsmen Members of the Order of the British Empire