Richard Graham (born 5 August 1972) is a rugby union coach and former head coach of the Australian Super Rugby franchises, the Queensland Reds and Western Force.
| Birth name | Richard Graham | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Date of birth | 5 August 1972 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Charleville, Queensland, Australia | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| School | Marist College Ashgrove | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Medal record
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Early life
editRichard Graham was born in central western Queensland (Charleville). He also lived in (Miles), (Mitchell), (Hughenden), (Longreach) and (Rockhampton).
He attended Marist College Ashgrove as a boarding student and was a talented schoolboy sportsman. Graham played 1st XI Cricket, captained 1st XV Rugby and captained the school athletics team. In his final year at school, Graham won the TAS 110m hurdles. Former Wallabies Daniel Herbert, Graeme Bond and Pat Howard were part of Graham's 1st XV in 1990.[1] Graham played for the undefeated Australian Schoolboys Rugby Union team that toured Europe in 1990/91 with the likes of Matt Burke, Peter Jorgensen, Jacob Rauluni and Scott Bowen.
Playing career
editRichard Graham played a year of Colts rugby at the GPS Rugby Club and was awarded the Queensland Colt of the Year in 1991. The following year saw Graham suffer a badly broken leg and subsequently a number of seasons away from the game. In 1995 he changed clubs and began playing for the Easts RFC in Brisbane winning the 1997 Brisbane premiership and also the 1999 Brisbane premiership as captain. He made his debut for the Queensland Reds against Hong Kong in 1998 and in 2001 played for Australia A against the touring British and Irish Lions. It was as a Rugby 7s player however that Graham was best known. He played for and captained the Australian Rugby 7s team between 1998 and 2002, his teams won 5 IRB series events and he attended 2 Commonwealth Games – 1998 (Kuala Lumpur) and 2002 (Manchester).[1] In 1998 the team won a bronze medal beating Samoa in the 3rd and 4th play off.
Coaching career
editRichard Graham began his professional coaching career with the Bath RFC in the English Premiership under former Wallaby hooker Michael Foley. In his 4 seasons with the club, he also worked under John Connolly (former Wallaby coach) and Brian Ashton (former England coach). Graham then moved to the Saracens RFC, where he worked under Alan Gaffney (former assistant Wallaby and Ireland coach) and Eddie Jones (former Wallaby coach) before finishing as head coach in 2009.[1] In June 2009 Graham joined Robbie Deans as skills coach of the National team.[1] While in this role he also accepted a position of assistant coach to former All Blacks coach John Mitchell at the Western Force. When Mitchell unexpectedly joined the Lions in Johannesburg in September 2010 Graham was promoted to head coach a year earlier than anticipated.[2][3][4][5] On 16 April 2012 Graham was sacked as coach of the Western Force after he announced he would be joining the Reds to become head coach in 2013.[6] After two games into the 2016 Super Rugby season Graham and the Queensland Reds parted ways.[7] In June 2016 Richard Graham was appointed coaching coordinator for the Georgia Rugby Union national side.
Education
editFollowing his schooling at Marist College, Richard Graham completed a Bachelor of Education degree. He has also completed a Diploma of Financial Planning and a Graduate Certificate in Executive Leadership. He is currently[when?] completing a Master of Business Administration (MBA) through the University of Queensland.
References
edit- ^ a b c d "Richard Graham Reds Profile". Archived from the original on 5 February 2014.
- ^ "Wallabies skills coach Richard Graham appointed next Western Force coach".
- ^ "Force appoint Richard Graham as 2012 coach".
- ^ "Force appoint Richard Graham head coach".
- ^ Warren, Adrian (9 February 2012). "Western Force coach Richard Graham says his forward pack is as strong as any in Super Rugby". Foxsports. Archived from the original on 7 June 2022. Retrieved 30 June 2014.
- ^ Pandaram, Jamie (16 April 2012). "Coach Richard Graham has quit the Western Force to take up a position [sic] with the Queensland Reds". Herald Sun. Retrieved 27 May 2012.
- ^ Queensland Reds coach Richard Graham sacked after back-to-back losses to start Super Rugby season. Sydney Morning Herald. 7 March 2016
External links
edit- "Richard Graham Reds Profile". Archived from the original on 5 February 2014.