Richards is well known to his namesake, and new Harlequins Director of Rugby, Dean Richards after the ex-Leicester man signed him on a temporary contract from Newport as cover during Leicester's hooker crisis during the 2003/4 Rugby World Cup season. He soon became a firm favourite at Welford Road where he scored two tries in his 19 appearances.

He made three appearances for Wales U21 in 1997 while still a student at UWIC before being signed by one of this season's opponents - Bedford Blues - when they were in Premiership 2 and he helped them secure promotion. He moved to Worcester Warriors (at the same time as Marco Caputo who also spent a short time at The Stoop) for the 1999/2000 season before returning to Wales to play for Newport the year after. He was a core part of the victorious Newport team that won the Welsh Cup for the first time in 24 years in 2001. He played over 90 times for the Welsh outfit playing in all 18 of Newport’s matches in the Heineken Cup including being in the side that beat French giants Toulouse.

A mixture of Tony Brown wanting to cut his expenditure at Newport and a hooker crisis at Leicester during the World Cup saw Richards spend most of the 2003/4 season on loan with the East Midlands outfit before going back over the border to Newport-Gwent Dragons last season.

Ex-Quins backs coach and new Dragons coach Paul Turner released Richards after signing another former Wales U21 hooker Kieran Crawford as well as prop Gethin Robinson (who will probably convert to hooker) to join the Wales hooker Steve Jones.

Dean Richards obviously knows James Richards well and he knows a bit about forward play so let's hope that Richards lives up to expectations and pushes hard for the Number 2 jersey this season.

Welcome to Harlequins James and best of luck while you are with us.

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