Dean Richards set for return to rugby management

Amateur National 2 North outfit Tynedale announced today that Dean Richards will be part of an impressive coaching team for the 2024/25 season, including recently retired former Premiership and Top 14 flanker Carl Fearns.

Richards has done some coaching with the Raiders, Tynedale's second team, over the last few months, but will now step up and play a more prominent role whilst acting as a mentor to new forwards coach, Fearns, who played under Richards during their days together at Newcastle.

Former England No.8 and Leicester and Harlequins supremo Richards led Newcastle into the Premiership play-offs for the first time in 2017/18 during a decade-long spell in charge.

The 60-year-old stepped down from his role as Director of Rugby at the Falcons in May 2022 and hasn't been involved in any front-line rugby role since.

But Richards has strong ties with Tynedale as his three sons and daughter have all played rugby at the north-east club, based in Corbridge.

It is believed that Richards will be responsible for playing matters in an unsalaried role, including team selection and the pathway structure between the Colts and the senior teams, of which Tynedale have four, and developing future coaches from within the club's ranks.

"It is fantastic to have someone as experienced as Dean on board, he has got a strong attachment to the club and he'll be an asset in so many ways," said Tynedale DoR Pete Southern.

Richards and Fearns' arrival is complemented by that of Bill Laidlaw as skills coach, whilst Tom Wilkinson will continue to look after the backs and Southern's off-field role will be unchanged.

Current head coach Ben Woods, the former Newcastle and Leicester flanker, has been forced to quit his role at the behest of the RFU who say that his full-time role as a rugby agent represents a conflict of interests.

Regulation 8.5.13 (g) bars any player agent from being an official, employee or contracted party at any professional/semi-professional club. Woods' assertion that the criteria shouldn't apply to Tynedale, given the club's amateur status, has fallen on deaf ears at Twickenham.

Fearns, 34, is now back in the north-east of England, living 20 minutes away from the club's ground, after hanging up his boots in December after a short spell in France's third tier with Carcassone.