‘In almost every French game, there’s theatre’: Dean Richards on bringing joie de vivre back to English rugby

Turn up at Castle Park in Doncaster this week and, bang on cue, a pony and trap is being driven in stately fashion down the nearby main road. There is, some might argue, a similarly retro feel about the Knights’ latest choice of director of rugby. It is now 40 years since Dean Richards barged his way into the public consciousness with two tries on his Test debut against Ireland at Twickenham but, at 63, he is still very much up for a challenge.

As with vinyl records and fine wine, old-school rugby nous never goes entirely out of vogue. That, at least, is the rationale behind Richards’ return to the upper rungs of the English club ladder, commencing with a 740-mile round trip to Cornish Pirates on the opening weekend of the 2026-27 Champ season. “If it’s ingrained in you and you love the sport, then there’s no reason why you shouldn’t continue in some capacity,” he says softly, gazing out of the window at his latest field of dreams.

After an illustrious 22-year association with Leicester, the Bloodgate era at Harlequins, a decade at Newcastle Falcons and briefer spells at Grenoble and, most recently, Wymondham in Norfolk, his latest rugby reincarnation in South Yorkshire certainly lends extra intrigue to this year’s Champ as the league seeks to frame itself as an attractive standalone alternative to the Prem after years of slashed Rugby Football Union funding.

Because Richards has seen it all in his time and has plenty of interesting views on the English game. For starters, he thinks the RFU has been guilty of underestimating the Champ’s potential value as a breeding ground for aspiring players, coaches and referees alike. In his opinion, the standard is improving and a glance at his Knights squad underlines the increasing depth in the second tier since the Prem was reduced to 10 teams. Semesa Rokoduguni, Telusa Veainu and Logovi’i Mulipola are all former standout Prem performers while Newcastle’s erstwhile head coach Alan Dickens is now on the coaching staff and the legendary Sir Ian McGeechan, now 79, is also on board as a consultant.

The caveat is that Doncaster’s playing budget is believed to have shrunk by around 45% compared with last season, when they finished eighth. Richards, however, has long argued that rugby success “is not all about money”, having secured second-tier titles with Quins and Newcastle. During both those campaigns his players were actively encouraged to buy their opposite numbers a post-match drink. This time he is thinking about organising a post-match eating contest, involving the club’s renowned “cow pie”, after the Knights’ opening home game against Hartpury on 27 September. “With Quins we set our stall out to have fun and I did the same at Newcastle. You ask a lot of the boys and it was probably one of the most enjoyable seasons they had. Preparation wasn’t key to everything. It was about having a bit of unity and fun. And it still is.”

Richards, warming to his theme, also believes English rugby in general would benefit from lightening up a bit. He is not sure if the Red Bull era at Newcastle would have been his bag: “The way they’ve done it probably wouldn’t suit me … it’s become very corporate, as I understand it, rather than personal”, but remains a fervent admirer of France’s vibrant Top 14. “I went to the Nou Camp in Barcelona [in 2016] when they held the Top 14 final there and it was an unbelievable occasion. You go to Twickenham to watch our Prem final and … it’s all right. But it doesn’t get anywhere near that.

“The French have got some things right. Their clubs’ style of play is absolutely fantastic. In almost every French game, there’s theatre. And I love that. Here we’re inherently conservative. We don’t want to make a fuss.” Similarly he queries the value of excessively earnest preparation, at English club and international level. “I do think we are typically Anglo-Saxon. We put our noses to the grindstone every day. And I don’t think you need to do that.”

In short, Richards would love to see English rugby display more imagination and vision on and off the field, not least in picking overseas-based players such as the Willis brothers. “If I was in Steve Borthwick’s shoes I’d be pushing to pick those boys.” At some stage he also reckons the Northampton duo of Phil Dowson and Sam Vesty would be a breath of managerial fresh air. “They’ve got a good handle on creating an environment where people want to come to work rather than have to come to work.

“Dows is a real maverick and, for what it’s worth, I think Sam is as well. And I think with that goes the ability to manage people really well. If you’re looking at somebody in the future to be an England coach, I’d certainly look at those two boys. I also like Dave Walder. He is equally as capable but very different to Sam.”

He also wonders aloud whether today’s young full-time pros need to get out more. “They’re far more like athletes than we probably ever were.

“Having said that, I think there’s something missing in their lives. And it’s that balance between work and life. Years ago the life experiences you had prepared you to cope with setbacks. Because many of the guys don’t have life experiences these days, it’s harder for them to accept the adversity and the knocks.”

Resilience was never a problem for Richards. During his days as a police constable, for example, he once attended a traffic accident on the M1 hours before playing for Leicester in a big East Midlands derby. A vehicle was stranded on the hard shoulder and its two occupants were Northampton fans travelling to the game. After racing back to fetch his kitbag and drop off his police car, Richards ended up giving them a lift to the game, which the Tigers duly lost. “Things like that, you wouldn’t think twice about,” he murmurs now.

Richards, however, is not one to wallow indefinitely in the past. After copping a three-year ban in the wake of the messy Bloodgate saga, he used his spare time to become a more skilful trout fisherman; now he is hoping to catch a few more opponents unawares and propel Yorkshire rugby back to the top table. “I’d love for Doncaster to get promoted. I think Cornish Pirates had us down the other day [on social media] as finishing 11th [out of 14]. [But] you look at what’s in place stadium-wise here and at Worcester. You’d want those clubs in the Premier league.” Whatever happens, Deano wants his hard-running Knights to enjoy the ride.