Peter Richards

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.

For other people named Peter Richards, see Peter Richards (disambiguation).

Peter Richards
Birth namePeter Charles Richards
Date of birth (1978-03-10) 10 March 1978
Place of birthPortsmouth, England
Height1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Weight88 kg (13 st 12 lb)
SchoolRoyal Hospital School
Lord Wandsworth College
SpouseJoanna Richards
Children2
Rugby union career
Position(s) Scrum-half, Centre, Fly-half
Senior career
Years Team Apps (Points)
1996–99
1999–2001
2001–02
2002–03
2003–05
2005–07
2007–2010		 London Irish
Harlequins
Benetton Treviso
Bristol Shoguns
London Wasps
Gloucester
London Irish		 ()
National team(s)
Years Team Apps (Points)
2004–2010
2006–2008		 England Saxons
England
13
(0)
National sevens team(s)
Years Team Comps
2004–06 England Hong Kong

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]

References
  1. "Shoguns make double swoop". ESPN Scrum. 2 July 2002. Retrieved 30 August 2009.
  2. "Wasps sign duo". ESPN Scrum. 9 July 2003. Retrieved 30 August 2009.
  3. "Wasps 10-6 Bath". BBC. 29 May 2004. Retrieved 6 February 2020.
  4. "Wasps 27-20 Toulouse". BBC. 23 May 2004. Retrieved 7 February 2020.
  5. "Gloucester Sign Richards". Gloucester Rugby. 27 April 2005. Archived from the original on 9 March 2012. Retrieved 30 August 2009.
  6. "England Scrum Half Joins the Exiles". London Irish official site. 19 March 2007. Archived from the original on 14 June 2011. Retrieved 30 August 2009.
  7. "England continues to crash". Sports Illustrated. 23 June 1998. Archived from the original on 25 October 2012. Retrieved 30 August 2009.
  8. "Back from hell". BBC Sport. 29 September 2005.
  9. "England take HK Sevens title". ESPN Scrum. 28 March 2004. Retrieved 30 August 2009.
  10. "Convert Farrell wins England call". BBC Sport. 8 August 2005. Retrieved 30 August 2009.
  11. "Australia 34–3 England". BBC Sport. 11 June 2006. Retrieved 30 August 2009.
  12. "Australia 43–18 England". BBC Sport. 17 June 2006. Retrieved 30 August 2009.
  13. "World Cup Final 2007 - England 6-15 South Africa". BBC Sport. 20 October 2007. Retrieved 30 August 2009.
  14. "Richards ruled out of Six Nations". BBC Sport. 23 January 2008. Retrieved 30 August 2009.
  15. "London Irish's Peter Richards retires due to injury". BBC Sport. 19 May 2010. Retrieved 19 May 2010.
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