Peter Richards Explained

Peter Richards
Birth Name:Peter Charles Richards
Birth Date:10 March 1978
Birth Place:Portsmouth, England
Height:1.75m (05.74feet)
Weight:88kg (194lb)
Ru Position:Scrum-half, Centre, Fly-half
Ru Nationalteam:England Saxons
England
Ru Nationalyears:2004–2010
2006–2008
Ru Nationalcaps:
13
Ru Nationalpoints:
(0)
Ru Clubyears:1996–99
1999–2001
2001–02
2002–03
2003–05
2005–07
2007–2010
Ru Proclubs:London Irish
Harlequins
Benetton Treviso
Bristol Shoguns
London Wasps
Gloucester
London Irish
Repsevensyears1:2004–06
Repsevensteam1:England
Repsevenscomp1:Hong Kong
Spouse:Joanna Richards
Children:2
School:Royal Hospital School
Lord Wandsworth College

Peter Charles Richards (born 10 March 1978) is a former English rugby union player. A versatile player, he has played in three positions: scrum half (his preferred role), fly-half and centre. Richards retired in the summer of 2010 because of a back injury. As of May 2015, Richards became head coach at London Scottish.

Early life

Born 10 March 1978 in Portsmouth, Richards began playing mini rugby at Farnham Rugby Club, before he went to the Royal Hospital School, near Ipswich.

Early career

Richards moved to Lord Wandsworth College, Hampshire for sixth form and played alongside Jonny Wilkinson reaching the Daily Mail Semi-final in 1996. He featured in both the England U16 and U18 Group Schools teams before joining London Irish in 1996.

Club career

Richards quickly made his first team debut for London Irish against Leicester Tigers before joining Harlequins for the 1999–2000 season.

He left two years later and spent a year in Italy playing for Benetton Treviso, then returned to join Bristol Shoguns.[1] He moved again, to Wasps at the start of the 2003–04 season, when the Shoguns were relegated from the Zurich Premiership.[2] He was a replacement when Wasps won both the 2003–04 Premiership Final and the 2004 Heineken Cup Final.[3] [4]

In summer 2005, Richards moved to Gloucester Rugby to replace Andy Gomarsall.[5] He re-signed with London Irish at the start of the 2007–08 season.[6]

International career

Richards has represented England at U19, U21 and A level.

He was part of the England "Tour of Hell" in 1998 to Australia and New Zealand when he played against the New Zealand Māori.[7] He angered head coach Clive Woodward by going to nightclubs in Sydney and Auckland, which had a detrimental result on his performance during training sessions.[8] He came home before the final leg to South Africa, and Woodward never called him up to the squad again while he was coach.[8]

In 2004 he was part of the winning England team at the Hong Kong Sevens.[9] This decision paid off when he was named in Andy Robinson's 2005 Autumn test squad, though he did not feature in any of the games.[10]

Richards was included in England's 2006 Tour of Australia and won his first Test cap against the Wallabies in a game which Australia beat England 34–3.[11] Richards won his second cap in the second game of the tour in which the Wallabies triumphed again in a 43–18 victory.[12]

He took part in the 2007 Rugby World Cup in France, coming on as a replacement in the Final, and other games.[13]

He was picked for the 2008 Six Nations Championship but was then ruled out of the whole tournament after tearing a biceps muscle while playing for London Irish against Benetton Treviso.[14]

On 19 May 2010, Richards announced his retirement from rugby due to injury, saying "I've had a great career and thoroughly enjoyed my rugby wherever I've played. I would like to have continued on for another couple of seasons, unfortunately that is not going to be physically possible. I would like to thank all the players, coaches and management and supporters at all the clubs I've played with for their help, friendship and encouragement."[15]

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Shoguns make double swoop. ESPNscrum. 2 July 2002. 30 August 2009.
  2. Web site: Wasps sign duo. ESPNscrum. 9 July 2003. 30 August 2009.
  3. Web site: Wasps 10-6 Bath . BBC. 29 May 2004 . 6 February 2020.
  4. Web site: Wasps 27-20 Toulouse . BBC. 23 May 2004 . 7 February 2020.
  5. Web site: Gloucester Sign Richards. Gloucester Rugby. 27 April 2005. 30 August 2009. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20120309163804/http://www.gloucesterrugby.co.uk/1284.php. 9 March 2012.
  6. Web site: England Scrum Half Joins the Exiles. London Irish official site. 19 March 2007. 30 August 2009. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20110614075941/http://www.london-irish.com/news/Irish28336.ink. 14 June 2011.
  7. Web site: England continues to crash. Sports Illustrated. 23 June 1998. 30 August 2009. https://web.archive.org/web/20121025074819/http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/rugby/news/1998/06/23/maori_england/. 25 October 2012. dead.
  8. News: Back from hell. 29 September 2005. BBC Sport.
  9. Web site: England take HK Sevens title. ESPNscrum. 28 March 2004. 30 August 2009.
  10. News: Convert Farrell wins England call. BBC Sport. 8 August 2005. 30 August 2009.
  11. News: Australia 34–3 England. BBC Sport. 11 June 2006. 30 August 2009.
  12. News: Australia 43–18 England. BBC Sport. 17 June 2006. 30 August 2009.
  13. News: World Cup Final 2007 – England 6-15 South Africa. BBC Sport. 20 October 2007. 30 August 2009.
  14. News: Richards ruled out of Six Nations. BBC Sport. 23 January 2008. 30 August 2009.
  15. News: London Irish's Peter Richards retires due to injury. BBC Sport. 19 May 2010. 19 May 2010.