David "Dai" Richards (born 23 May 1954) is a former Welsh international

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

player. In 1980 he toured South Africa with the British Lions and at the time played club rugby for Swansea.

Rugby career

Richards played on 17 occasions for as a

centre Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

wing A wing is a type of fin that produces both Lift (force), lift and drag while moving through air. Wings are defined by two shape characteristics, an airfoil section and a planform (aeronautics), planform. Wing efficiency is expressed as lift-to-d ...

, scoring four tries. He was brought into the Welsh side in 1979 for the Five Nations game against France in Paris in place of Llanelli's Ray Gravell. In hindsight, many observers believe it would have been better to have retained the Steve Fenwick/

Ray Gravell Raymond William Robert Gravell (12 September 1951 – 31 October 2007) was a Welsh rugby union Centre (rugby union), centre who played club rugby for Llanelli RFC. At international level, Gravell earned 23 cap (sport), caps for Wales national r ...

centre partnership and moved David Richards to fly-half instead of Cardiff's Gareth Davies. Richards played fly-half for his club side Swansea and was much more effective in that position and indeed his greatest Welsh performance was against Scotland in 1980 when he moved from centre to fly-half when Davies was injured. he played a fine game and scored a magnificent try. He played 311 games for Swansea between 1972/73 and 1985/86, scoring 117 tries, and captained the club in 1981/82, 1982/83 and 1983/84. He toured with the 1980 British Lions to South Africa, playing seven games, including one international appearance. He was also a reserve for the 1977 British Lions tour to New Zealand. He was Welsh Rugby player of the year in 1980. As well as representing the full Wales team, he also played for Wales B and was also picked for invitational touring side, the

Barbarians A barbarian is a person or tribe of people that is perceived to be primitive, savage and warlike. Many cultures have referred to other cultures as barbarians, sometimes out of misunderstanding and sometimes out of prejudice. A "barbarian" may ...

. After his playing career he became a National selector for the

Welsh Rugby Union The Welsh Rugby Union (WRU; ) is the governing body of rugby union in the country of Wales, recognised by the sport's international governing body, World Rugby. The WRU is responsible for the running of rugby in Wales, overseeing 320 member clu ...

.Swansea RFC profile
swansearfc.co.uk

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Richards, David 1954 births Living people Barbarian F.C. players British & Irish Lions rugby union players from Wales Glynneath RFC players People educated at Neath Grammar School for Boys Rugby union players from Neath Port Talbot Swansea RFC players Wales international rugby union players Welsh rugby union players Rugby union centres