'I missed the buzz' - Dean Richards on the potential of Doncaster Knights and their Prem ambitions
DEAN RICHARDS has been coaching for nearly 30 years and has won everything the club game has to offer, yet even he admits to getting nervous at the start of a new season.
For the 63-year-old has taken on the challenge of getting Doncaster Knights upwardly mobile again with the long-term vision of taking them into the Prem, even if, under the current plan, that could be three years away.
His apprehension on the eve of a 2026-27 Champ Rugby campaign that begins at Cornish Pirates on Sunday stems from his new Knights not being quite ready for the season – and the familiar feeling of the competitive juices coursing through his body again.
“A little bit of nervousness,” he admits. “Just the budget has been trimmed slightly, the squad has been trimmed slightly, we’ve got new coaches in, some new players in, so with all the uncertainties and unknowns, you just don’t know until you start the season.
“I love matchdays, there’s no replicating it. You get excited, there’s a nervousness about it, although I’m not sure it’s nerves or just excitement.” And then he corrects himself. “Probably excitement.”
After winning domestic and European competitions with Leicester Tigers in his first job straight out of playing, to long associations with Harlequins and Newcastle Falcons, Richards would have been forgiven for retiring to his home in the Midlands when his time in the north east ended in 2022.
But he kept his hand in with roles at Tynedale and then further down the amateur ladder at a club in Norfolk – neither of which could replicate the intensity he was used to.
“It’s not quite the same,” says Richards. “As much as I liked the two clubs, when somebody rings up and says I can’t make it this weekend I’m going away with the missus on a spa weekend, you just think ‘oof, we were never like that years ago’.
“If someone tried that when I was playing at Leicester the peer pressure would come down so hard on them they’d be getting divorced.
“Times have changed, but the only way you get that buy-in and that commitment is when people are committed.
“I was missing that buzz around the changing room, matchdays.”
When Doncaster’s co-owner and co-benefactor Steve Lloyd rang in the summer looking for an experienced, connected hand to resurrect an ambitious club that had fallen short of expectations the past two seasons, Richards jumped at the chance.
“There were two clubs I’d have looked at in the Champ, Worcester was one and Doncaster the other. They’re like a sleeping giant to me,” says Richards of a club that has spent much of the past quarter of a century in the second tier, without ever getting higher. “Location, facilities, everything from the Yorkshire connection, the amount of clubs that play within the region, across into Derbyshire and Lincolnshire.
“The opportunity to tap into the resources within this county are massive, and I don’t think any Yorkshire club has managed to do that, and whichever club does that could have an absolutely fantastic team playing at the highest level and developing players to play at the highest level for a long time. And that’s what it’s all about.”
So what of the Prem? Can Doncaster, who pass the RFU audit annually but have lagged behind on the pitch, make it to the promised land?
Richards, at this stage of his career, would surely not have come to Castle Park if he didn’t think there was a way in, either through promotion or as a franchise.
“There are only 10 teams in the Prem and I think the optimum number would be 12, possibly going to 14, but it changes from year to year,” he says. The current plan sees an end to promotion and an expansion of the Prem to 12 from 2029-30.
“But 12 is viable and at this moment in time they’re desperate for two teams to come up. At some stage, whether it be this season, the season after, there will be an opportunity, I’m pretty sure of that. It’s logical to look at the country and think you’re desperate to have one in Yorkshire.”
In the immediate term, Richards is not making any boasts about winning the league this season. Doncaster have started badly in each of the last two seasons and that is reflected in how they are being viewed around the league.
“Cornish Pirates actually tipped us to finish 11th, which means we’ve got nothing to lose,” he smiles. “I think we’ll go under the radar a little bit.”
Richards is also working with a part-time squad after Lloyd and the board stopped full-time training this summer.
That jars with the ambition of being a Prem club and their ongoing search for investment, but it is not permanent, and Richards sees the positives.
“I looked at it very closely, when you look at the time spent on the training field it’s not a lot less than a Prem side would be spending on the field,” he points out.
“A Prem team would be doing Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, with walk-throughs on Monday and maybe a team run on a Friday. We’re replicating that Tuesday and Thursday just at different times of the day.
“What we can’t replicate is controlling nutrition and the amount of weight sessions they do away from the club.
“But I wouldn’t say we’re part-time, it’s just a variation that’s enabled these people to go out and work and live a normal life.”
Richards could be living his own normal life, but to him normal is the buzz of matchday.
“The changing room is something special, the camaraderie, the banter, the humour,” he smiles. “You’ve got people who are giving their all, sometimes for not very much money, or for a dream. If you understand where they’re coming from and can give them as much support as you can then you won’t go far wrong.”