RICHARDS RECOMMENDS COACHING YEAR ABROAD
Come May, when Wasps director of rugby Ian McGeechan is expected to step down, and if his opposite man at Gloucester, Dean Ryan, relinquishes his role, too, Dean Richards of Harlequins will be longest-serving coach in the Guinness Premiership. The 45-year-old former England No8 points to a sojourn in a small city at the foot of the Alps to explain his durability – and suggests that other coaches, including Martin Johnson, do the same.
Richards, who made 48 appearances for the Red Rose and won six Lions caps, moved upstairs at Leicester Tigers in February 1998 after his playing career finished. With Johnson as his captain, Richards’s team won four consecutive Premiership titles and the first Zürich Championship play-offs, as well as back-to-back Heineken Cups in 2001 and 2002. They are still the only side to have managed that feat. However, in 2004, Richards was shown the door at Welford Road as his side, shorn of its internationals, slipped to 11th in the table.
It was an acrimonious split between the Tigers and a man who had spent 20 years at the club, but Richards moved over to southeast France – and he believes it was his year in Grenoble, in spite of it not being a failure in terms of results, that re-energised his coaching career. And he has no intention of stopping anytime soon.
“After being at Leicester Tigers for seven years I spent a fantastic year in France,” he says. “It showed me a different culture, a different way of life and a different style of and attitude to rugby, too. Even though we didn’t do particularly well, it reinvigorated me. What I saw over there I brought back and it changed my attitude to rugby.
“Because of the intensity of the Guinness Premiership you have to be like an international manager – it is not like the Super 14, when it is intense for very short periods of time. There is very little respite in England – you are going pretty much from the beginning of July right to the end of May.
“You can understand why you do need a change, and that change makes a massive difference. But rugby is something that I grew up with and has been a part of my life since the age of ten or 11. I’m entrenched in rugby, it is my passion and it is why I am still here.”
After taking the reins at Harlequins in 2005, following their relegation, Richards has carefully moulded a young team who don’t look out of place at third in the table. In Newcastle this Sunday they could make it six wins on the bounce for the first time in their Guinness Premiership history.
“We are pleased with the five wins in a row – and though I am not interested in records, I am keen to keep on winning,” Richards continues. “It doesn’t matter how many wins we get, because once we get the momentum going, the winning habit is a difficult one to break. But we have some tough games, starting with Newcastle away at the weekend.”
Come May, when Wasps director of rugby Ian McGeechan is expected to step down, and if his opposite man at Gloucester, Dean Ryan, relinquishes his role, too, Dean Richards of Harlequins will be longest-serving coach in the Guinness Premiership. The 45-year-old former England No8 points to a sojourn in a small city at the foot of the Alps to explain his durability – and suggests that other coaches, including Martin Johnson, do the same.
Richards, who made 48 appearances for the Red Rose and won six Lions caps, moved upstairs at Leicester Tigers in February 1998 after his playing career finished. With Johnson as his captain, Richards’s team won four consecutive Premiership titles and the first Zürich Championship play-offs, as well as back-to-back Heineken Cups in 2001 and 2002. They are still the only side to have managed that feat. However, in 2004, Richards was shown the door at Welford Road as his side, shorn of its internationals, slipped to 11th in the table.
It was an acrimonious split between the Tigers and a man who had spent 20 years at the club, but Richards moved over to southeast France – and he believes it was his year in Grenoble, in spite of it not being a failure in terms of results, that re-energised his coaching career. And he has no intention of stopping anytime soon.
“After being at Leicester Tigers for seven years I spent a fantastic year in France,” he says. “It showed me a different culture, a different way of life and a different style of and attitude to rugby, too. Even though we didn’t do particularly well, it reinvigorated me. What I saw over there I brought back and it changed my attitude to rugby.
“Because of the intensity of the Guinness Premiership you have to be like an international manager – it is not like the Super 14, when it is intense for very short periods of time. There is very little respite in England – you are going pretty much from the beginning of July right to the end of May.
“You can understand why you do need a change, and that change makes a massive difference. But rugby is something that I grew up with and has been a part of my life since the age of ten or 11. I’m entrenched in rugby, it is my passion and it is why I am still here.”
After taking the reins at Harlequins in 2005, following their relegation, Richards has carefully moulded a young team who don’t look out of place at third in the table. In Newcastle this Sunday they could make it six wins on the bounce for the first time in their Guinness Premiership history.
“We are pleased with the five wins in a row – and though I am not interested in records, I am keen to keep on winning,” Richards continues. “It doesn’t matter how many wins we get, because once we get the momentum going, the winning habit is a difficult one to break. But we have some tough games, starting with Newcastle away at the weekend.”
Labels: Dean Richards, Guinness Premiership, London Harlequins, Martin Johnson
