{"id":345812,"date":"2026-01-01T04:13:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-01T04:13:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/345812\/"},"modified":"2026-01-01T04:13:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-01T04:13:09","slug":"two-time-lions-tourist-dean-richards-on-his-20-a-day-habit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/345812\/","title":{"rendered":"Two-time Lions tourist Dean Richards on his &#8217;20-a-day&#8217; habit"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Former Leicester Tigers player and esteemed coach, Dean Richards, has reflected on his amateur playing days, highlighting the differences between then and the modern professional era.<\/p>\n<p>There is no doubt rugby has been transformed since turning professional in 1995, with players now benefiting from elite facilities, tailored training programmes and vastly improved support structures.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking on The Good, The Bad &amp; The Rugby podcast, Richards highlighted just how stark the contrast is, particularly when it comes to today\u2019s training regimes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI didn\u2019t train that much from a rugby perspective, but I played squash three times a week. I played five-a-side soccer. I\u2019d go to the gym. Mike [Teague] used to do weights. I\u2019d do weights as well.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.planetrugby.com\/news\/the-ronan-ogara-fing-knob-jockeys-giving-us-the-finger-remark-that-sets-up-la-rochelles-upcoming-trip-to-leinster\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">The Ronan O\u2019Gara \u2018f***ing knob jockeys giving us the finger\u2019 remark that sets up La Rochelle\u2019s upcoming trip to Leinster<\/a><\/p>\n<p>20 cigarettes a day<\/p>\n<p>It wasn\u2019t all fitness and health for Richards, however, admitting that he was puffing on \u201c20 [cigarettes] a day.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Speaking to Peter Winterbottom, Richards joked: \u201cI can remember they introduced the bleep test. Literally, you literally walked off on that first blink test that we did in Lanzarote or wherever it was and said: \u2018I\u2019m not doing this.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Peter Winterbottom added: \u201cI said to Jeff Cook: \u2018Well, Jeff, I can only get better\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s worth noting that during amateur rugby, players had their own full-time jobs to focus on; it wasn\u2019t just about rugby.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI did take it seriously, but in my own way,\u201d Richards continued.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI would do a morning shift as a policeman, finish at two o\u2019clock and get over to Leicester for a three o\u2019clock kick-off. And you\u2019d arrive at 20 to three, literally bang straight in, get changed and then run out at two minutes to three. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd Jerry [Guscott] was the best one at that. He could p**s around all day in the changing rooms, and all of a sudden it comes to kick-off, and bang, he\u2019s right in the zone. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd yet, some people these days, it\u2019s almost like setting a table, unless they go through a process starting from the Thursday right through to three o\u2019clock on the Saturday. You know, they get thrown out.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>READ MORE:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.planetrugby.com\/news\/planet-rugbys-top-50-mens-players-of-2025-unstoppable-force-takes-top-spot-as-springboks-dominate-10-1-selection\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Planet Rugby\u2019s Top 50 men\u2019s players of 2025: \u2018Unstoppable force\u2019 takes top spot as Springboks dominate 10-1 selection<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former Leicester Tigers player and esteemed coach, Dean Richards, has reflected on his amateur playing days, highlighting the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":345813,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-345812","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-rugby","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345812","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=345812"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345812\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/345813"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=345812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=345812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=345812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}