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.
| Birth name | Richard James Blaze | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Date of birth | 19 April 1985 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 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 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Youth
editRichard 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
editBlaze 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
editBlaze 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
editBlaze 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.
References
edit- ^ "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.