Richard Cockerill

Richard Cockerill (born December 16 1970) is a former English rugby union footballer who played as a hooker.

Cockerill was born in Rugby. Joining Leicester Tigers, he established himself as the B of the "ABC club" alongside Graham Rowntree (A) and Darren Garforth (C).

He made his England debut against Argentina in 1997 and later his first match at Twickenham was as a half-time replacement for the Bath hooker Andy Long in Clive Woodward's first match in charge against the Wallabies; Long was young and clearly out of his depth. Cockerill's performance earned him a starting place against New Zealand, where he stood up to Norm Hewitt during the haka (see book cover).

A dip in form led him to lose his first choice hooking position at Leicester to Dorian West. He was also dropped from the England side after criticising Woodward in his book entitled "In Your Face". He subsequently moved to France, but has signed again for Leicester for the 2004-5 season.

He served as acting head coach of Leicester Tigers in the early part of the 2007-08 season before Marcelo Loffreda arrived from Argentina in the wake of the Pumas' third-place finish in the 2007 Rugby World Cup.

Bibliography

* Richard Cockerill (with Michael Tanner as a ghost writer) "In Your Face: A Rugby Odyssey" ISBN 1-84018-266-0

External links

* [http://www.sporting-heroes.net/rugby-heroes/displayhero.asp?HeroID=2149 Sporting heroes]