Richard Blaze (born 19 April 1985 in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

) is an English

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

forwards coach and former player who played

Lock Lock(s) may refer to: Common meanings *Lock and key, a mechanical device used to secure items of importance *Lock (water navigation), a device for boats to transit between different levels of water, as in a canal Arts and entertainment * ''Lock ...

for

Leicester Tigers Leicester Tigers (officially Leicester Football Club) are a professional rugby union club based in Leicester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was founded in 1880 and since 1892 plays its hom ...

and

Worcester Warriors Worcester Warriors Rugby Football Club is a professional rugby union club, based in Worcester, England, that is currently in Administration (law), administration and which has been suspended and will be relegated from Premiership Rugby, the top ...

. 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

. In the years that followed

won two Premiership titles. In the 2009 Premiership final Leicester beat London Irish 10–9, and Tigers retained their title the following year as they defeated

Saracens file:Erhard Reuwich Sarazenen 1486.png, upright 1.5, Late 15th-century Germany in the Middle Ages, German woodcut depicting Saracens Saracen ( ) was a term used in the early centuries, both in Greek language, Greek and Latin writings, to refer ...

33–27. After an historic placing kicking competition decided the 2009 Heineken cup semi-final, Leicester lost the 2009 Heineken Cup Final to Irish province

Leinster Leinster ( ; ga, Laighin or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, situated in the southeast and east of Ireland. The province comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Meath, Leinster and Osraige. Following the 12th-century Norman invasion of Ir ...

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 and successful U21 Grand Slam campaign. Blaze represented

England Saxons England A is England's men's second national rugby union team. The team has previously been known by a number of names, such as England B, Emerging England and, most recently, England Saxons. England A play a key role in the development of emer ...

at the

2007 Churchill Cup The 2007 Churchill Cup was held from May 18 to June 2, 2007. It was the fifth year of the Churchill Cup. Six rugby union teams took part: Canada, England Saxons, Ireland A, New Zealand Māori, Scotland A, and the USA. Format The teams were s ...

and 2008 Churchill Cup. Blaze, known for his exceptional work at the line out, was called up to Martin Johnson's England squad for the 2009 Autumn Internationals. Blaze missed much of 2009–10 season due to a foot injury. After having been picked for 's Elite Squad as a replacement for

Simon Shaw Simon Dalton Shaw MBE (born 1 September 1973) is a former English rugby union player who played as a lock. He played for Bristol, London Wasps and Toulon. He won 71 caps for England between 1996 and 2011, and 2 for the British & Irish Lions ...

, Blaze retired on 21 October 2010 after suffering a foot injury.

Coaching

Blaze started his coaching career at

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 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

. 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.

References

External links

Leicester profileWorcester profileEngland profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blaze, Richard 1985 births Living people English rugby union coaches English rugby union players Rugby union players from Birmingham, West Midlands Moseley Rugby Football Club players Worcester Warriors players Leicester Tigers players Rugby union locks Leicester Tigers coaches