The 38-year-old has over a decade’s worth of experience following his early retirement from playing in 2010 due to injury.

Finishing his player career aged 25 whilst at Leicester Tigers, Blaze remained at Welford Road as an Assistant Coach, winning the Premiership in 2012/13, and he developed into the senior side’s Forwards Coach in a period Tigers also made back-to-back Premiership semi-finals.

Whilst with the Tigers, he also held the position of Academy Development Coach and Co-ordinator during the 2017/18 season and led Loughborough Students’ defence in National League 1. In the same year, the former Worcester Warriors lock was named England Under-20s Forwards Coach, aiding the latter’s route to the 2018 World Rugby U20 Championship final.

Blaze became England Women Forwards Coach following the tournament and after two years, he returned to the Premiership with Wasps and was key in them reaching the 2019/20 final. More recently, he has been a consultant Forwards and Defence Coach at Loughborough.

“After a pretty turmoil year for myself, I’m proud to be joining such a historical club and I’m excited by the journey ahead,” Blaze said.

“There is a great group of young players at the club, some who I have worked with before, and I’m looking forward to seeing them grow their game.

“I want to add to the momentum the team has experienced over the past couple of months, and I’m relishing the opportunity to work with Johann and the other coaches to help drive the team towards the top end of the Premiership.”

Head of Rugby Johann van Graan commented: “I met Richard in the rugby world over a decade ago and he has grown into a very experienced coach since.

“He is a high calibre person whose expertise lies specifically in the line-out and forward play. The teams he has worked with have shown great physicality and have been confrontational in their play.

“We’re looking forward to building on what we’ve been developing in Year 1 with Richard as part of our coaching team.”

The addition of Blaze to the senior coaching setup will see a change in role for Luke Charteris.

The former Bath Rugby lock will continue his coaching journey in the Academy alongside Mark Lilley, Ryan Davis, Nathan Catt, Louis Messer and Matt Lishman.

“Luke will remain part of our Academy and pathway,” van Graan added.

“It will be great to aid his coaching development and we’re looking forward to seeing growth in his career path as he works with and develops some of our club’s talented young forwards.”

Blaze appointed Assistant Coach ahead of 2023/24 season

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