Richard Blaze

Richard Blaze
Birth name	Richard James Blaze
Date of birth	19 April 1985 (age 39)
Place of birth	Birmingham, England
Height	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)
Weight	18 st 8 lb (118kg)
School	King’s Norton Boys’ School; Birmingham & Bishop Challoner School
Occupation(s)	Rugby Union Coach
Rugby union career
Position(s)
Position(s)	Lock
Current team	Leicester Tigers Rugby Club
Senior career
Years	Team
2003–2004	Moseley
2004–2007	Worcester Warriors
2007–2010	Leicester Tigers
International career
Years	Team
2007–2009	England Saxons

Last updated December 06, 2024

Richard Blaze (born 19 April 1985 in Birmingham, England) is an English rugby union forwards coach and former player who played Lock for Leicester Tigers and Worcester Warriors. Due to his early retirement from the game, Blaze is widely known as one of the youngest but most experienced coaches in premiership rugby.

Youth

Richard Blaze, originally a basketball player for the Midlands, was a late comer to the game of rugby. Spotted by Mosley and North Midlands development coaches, he rapidly progressed through county and divisional level rugby under 18s. He was a product of the Worcester Warriors academy, alongside Dylan Hartley and Tom Wood.

Playing career

Blaze made his premiership debut in April 2005 for Worcester Warrior against Newcastle and due to his "enforcer" style presence was one of the first players from Worcester academy to gain a professional contract.

In 2007, he signed for Leicester Tigers.^[1] In the years that followed Leicester Tigers won two Premiership titles. In the 2009 Premiership final Leicester beat London Irish 10–9,^[2] and Tigers retained their title the following year as they defeated Saracens 33–27.^[3] After an historic placing kicking competition decided the 2009 Heineken cup semi-final, Leicester lost the 2009 Heineken Cup Final to Irish province Leinster.

International career

Blaze represented England thirty-one times at age group level. Gaining four Under 18s caps in 2003 and seven under 19s caps 2004. He gained further twenty under 21s caps across 2005-6: Playing all 21 games over two seasons. This included age group Grand Slam^[4] and successful U21 Grand Slam campaign.^[5]

Blaze represented England Saxons at the 2007 Churchill Cup ^[6] and 2008 Churchill Cup.^[7]

Blaze, known for his exceptional work at the line out, was called up to Martin Johnson's England squad for the 2009 Autumn Internationals.^[8]

Blaze missed much of 2009–10 season due to a foot injury. After having been picked for England's Elite Squad as a replacement for Simon Shaw,^{[ citation needed ]} Blaze retired on 21 October 2010 after suffering a foot injury.^[9]

Coaching

Blaze started his coaching career at Leicester Tigers in 2010, as an assistant Forwards Coach to the first team and Head Coach to seconds team. Alongside Richard Cockerill, Matt O'Connor and Paul Burke. As a coaching team they went on to win two English Championships, in 2010 season and again in 2013. Tigers also reached Premiership Finals in 2011 and 2012.

In 2015 Blaze was appointed First Team Forwards coach, under Head coaches Richard Cockerill and Aaron Mauger.

In 2017 Blaze wanted explore new challenges across all age groups of the sport and was quickly made academy coach for Leicester Tigers and England Under 20s Forward Coach. As an academy coach Blaze was a part of the coaching team at Leicester Tigers that coached the academy to their first championship and are currently the National Academy Champions.

As England Under 20s Forwards Coach Blaze, coached the side though an Under-20 Six Nations and Under-20 Rugby World Cup. Making into the Final of the World Cup, narrowly missing out to France in the final, in France.

Richard Blaze whilst at RFU moved to the Forwards and Defence Coach for the England Women's First Team. After completing a successful autumn international period, they had gone on to become grand slam champions of 2019.

Whilst at the RFU Richard appointed by Wasps Rugby Football Club as their forwards coach for the 2020 season. This first Season saw them in the final of the English Premiership.

Related Research Articles

Leicester Tigers are a professional rugby union club based in Leicester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby.

Martin Osborne Johnson CBE is an English retired rugby union player who represented and captained England and Leicester in a career spanning 16 seasons. He captained England to victory in the 2003 Rugby World Cup, and is regarded as one of the greatest locks ever to have played, and one of England's greatest ever players.

Oliver James Smith is a former English rugby union international and domestic head coach, having had a spell with Esher RFC. During his playing career, he played for Harlequin F.C. Rugby Club, Montpellier Hérault Rugby, Leicester Tigers, England and the British & Irish Lions before a knee injury forced him to retire. He was a specialist outside centre but also occasionally played inside centre or wing.

Richard Cockerill is an English rugby union coach and former player and since January 2024 has been the Head Coach of the Georgian National Rugby Team. Prior to this he was the manager of Top 14 side Montpellier. He was the England national team's interim head coach between Eddie Jones and Steve Borthwick. He played as a hooker, spending the majority of his career at Leicester Tigers where he played 255 games over two spells, he won 27 caps for England and was included in the 1999 Rugby World Cup squad. He won five league titles, two European Cups and two domestic cups as a player.

Bristol Bears are a professional rugby union club based in Bristol, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby.

David James Mallinder is a rugby union coach and former player currently working with Scottish Rugby as performance director. He is a former head coach of Sale Sharks, England Under 21s, England Saxons and Northampton Saints.

Jordan Stephen Crane is a former professional rugby union player, who recently played for Bristol Bears in the Premiership Rugby. Crane has also played internationally for England.

Ryan Lamb is an English former rugby union player who played at fly-half.

James Grindal is an English former rugby union rugby player who played scrum-half for Bristol Rugby. He made over 275 first class appearances, and was capped by England at Under-18, Under-21 and England Saxons level, as well as representing the Barbarians.

Dylan Hartley is a former rugby union player who represented England and Northampton Saints.

Richard Eric Peter Wigglesworth is an English rugby union coach and former professional player. He is the record appearance maker for Premiership Rugby, he played for Sale Sharks, Saracens and Leicester Tigers. He has won Seven Premiership titles, one with Sale, five with Saracens, and one with Leicester as well as three European Rugby Champions Cups with Saracens. Between 2008 and 2018 he won 33 caps for England. In his career he has played over 400 club games.

Tom Croft is a retired rugby union player. He played 173 games for Leicester Tigers between 2005–17 winning four Premiership Rugby titles, played 40 times for England between 2008–2015, was part of the squad for the 2011 Rugby World Cup, and the British & Irish Lions in 2009 to South Africa and 2013 to Australia. His career was somewhat plagued with a variety of minor and serious injuries.

Benjamin Ryder Youngs is an English professional rugby union player who plays as a scrum-half for Premiership Rugby club Leicester Tigers, and is the all time appearance record holder with 127 caps for the England national team.

Daniel Richard Cole is an English professional rugby union player who plays as a prop for Premiership Rugby club Leicester Tigers and the England national team.

Geoff Parling is an English rugby union coach and former player. His usual playing position was lock.

Etuale Manusamoa Tuilagi is a professional rugby union player who plays as a centre for Top 14 club Bayonne. Born in Samoa, he represented England at international level after qualifying on residency grounds.

Graham Kitchener is an English rugby union player. His position is lock.

Nathan Catt is an English rugby union coach and retired player who played as a prop for Bath in the Aviva Premiership.

George Thomas Ford is an English professional rugby union player who plays as a fly-half for Premiership Rugby club Sale Sharks and the England national team.

History of Leicester Tigers details the history of the rugby union club based in Leicester, England. Nicknamed the Tigers from 1885, Leicester have been a prominent club from the earliest days of organised English rugby dominating midlands rugby before the First World War; providing British Lions captains in 1930, 1936, 1997 and 2001; and winning 21 major titles since 1979 including a record 11 Premiership Rugby titles.

References

↑ "Leicester sign Blaze and Erinle". BBC. 22 February 2007. Retrieved 26 June 2009.
↑ "Leicester 10-9 London Irish". BBC. 16 May 2009. Retrieved 21 September 2016.
↑ "Leicester see off Saracens and breed next generation with winning DNA". The Guardian. 31 May 2010. Retrieved 21 September 2016.
↑ "Eight-try England take historic U19 Grand Slam victory in style". RFU. 11 March 2005. Archived from the original on 22 November 2008. Retrieved 21 August 2009.
↑ "England U21s take Grand Slam". BBC. 17 March 2006. Archived from the original on 23 November 2008. Retrieved 21 August 2009.
↑ "England Saxons 17–13 NZ Maori". BBC. 2 June 2007. Retrieved 26 June 2009.
↑ "USA 10–64 England Saxons". BBC. 7 June 2008. Retrieved 26 June 2009.
↑ "Injury-hit England make changes". BBC. 26 October 2009. Retrieved 8 January 2010.
↑ Sherard, Gary (20 October 2010). "Richard Blaze announces rugby retirement". Leicester Tigers. Retrieved 21 October 2010.

External links

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[Leicester_sign_Blaze_and_Erinle-1] "Leicester sign Blaze and Erinle". BBC. 22 February 2007. Retrieved 26 June 2009.

[2009_Prem_Final-2] "Leicester 10-9 London Irish". BBC. 16 May 2009. Retrieved 21 September 2016.

[2010_Prem_Final-3] "Leicester see off Saracens and breed next generation with winning DNA". The Guardian. 31 May 2010. Retrieved 21 September 2016.

[Eight-try_England_take_historic_U19_Grand_Slam_victory_in_style-4] "Eight-try England take historic U19 Grand Slam victory in style". RFU. 11 March 2005. Archived from the original on 22 November 2008. Retrieved 21 August 2009.

[England_U21s_take_Grand_Slam-5] "England U21s take Grand Slam". BBC. 17 March 2006. Archived from the original on 23 November 2008. Retrieved 21 August 2009.

[England_Saxons_17-13_NZ_Maori-6] "England Saxons 17–13 NZ Maori". BBC. 2 June 2007. Retrieved 26 June 2009.

[USA_10-64_England_Saxons-7] "USA 10–64 England Saxons". BBC. 7 June 2008. Retrieved 26 June 2009.

[Injury-hit_England_make_changes-8] "Injury-hit England make changes". BBC. 26 October 2009. Retrieved 8 January 2010.

[9] Sherard, Gary (20 October 2010). "Richard Blaze announces rugby retirement". Leicester Tigers. Retrieved 21 October 2010.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]