After the 1988 Five Nations Championship match between Scotland and England Richards received a one match ban from the Rugby Football Union after an incident post match which damaged the Calcutta Cup. Richards won the first club silverware of his career when Leicester beat Waterloo to win the 1987–88 Courage League, England's first official league title. Richards was selected alongside three other Leicester players for England's tour of Australia and Fiji. Injuries limited Richards to only 15 appearances for Leicester in 1988–89, though he was able to feature in the losing 1988-89 Pilkington Cup final against Bath, before being selected for the 1989 British Lions tour to Australia. Richards played in all three tests for the Lions and his powerful mauling play was the bedrock of the Lions success.