Dean Richards

Dean Richards (born 11 July 1963) is a rugby union coach and former player for Leicester Tigers, and British & Irish Lions.

Richards was schooled at John Cleveland College, in Hinckley, 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 Leicester Tigers.

Richards was a number eight and played 314 games for Leicester Tigers 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.

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

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 as Leicester reached the final only to lose to Bristol.

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

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 played 48 times for between 1986 and 1996, a world record number of caps for his position at the time, including the 1987, 1991 and 1995 Rugby World Cups, 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.

He made his senior debut on 1 March 1986, against at Twickenham in the 1986 Five Nations Championship, scoring two tries in a 25–20 points win.

Richards played in four matches at the inaugural Rugby World Cup in 1987.

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

After the 1988 Five Nations Championship match between Scotland and England Richards received a one match ban from the Rugby Football Union after an incident post match which damaged the Calcutta Cup.

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, before being selected for the 1989 British Lions tour to Australia.

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

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.

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 but lost to.

Richards was recalled for England during the 1992 Five Nations Championship, 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, Richards was picked for the 1993 British Lions tour to New Zealand and started in all three test matches.

He also captained the Lions in a non-cap match against Canterbury.

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

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 Bath with a controversial last minute penalty try.

The following season, Richards led Leicester to their first Heineken Cup final against Brive, at Cardiff Arms Park, which was won by Brive by 28 points to nine.

In 1998 he retired from playing and was immediately appointed Leicester Director of Rugby.

Leicester won the Premiership Rugby title in Richards' first four seasons in charge and also won the Heineken Cup in 2001 and 2002, the first side to retain the trophy.

Richards spent one year with FC Grenoble in France's Top 16.

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 scandal.

He was most recently the Director of Rugby at Newcastle Falcons, a position he held for ten years between 2012 and 2022.

After the expiration of his ban he was appointed by Newcastle Falcons and won the second division again in 2013.