Ex-policeman Dean Richards aiding police's virus response

Now Newcastle Falcons' director of rugby, former England No 8 Richards was a police officer during his early playing days at Leicester before rugby union turned professional.

The 56-year-old will help prepare hundreds of pieces of personal protective equipment for use by frontline officers in an effort to keep them safe as they go about their duties amid a nationwide lockdown caused by Covid-19.

"I know that at times like this people need to work together and help in any way they can," said Richards on Thursday.

"Thanks to Northumbria Police for letting me help in a small way, it was my privilege."

Richards was schooled at John Cleveland College, in Hinckley, and was a police constable for Leicestershire Constabulary between the 1980s and 1990s before English rugby union became professional. He had a long playing career with Leicester Tigers, and played 48 times for England and six times for the British & Irish Lions. The 55-year-old is now the boss of Premiership side Newcastle Falcons.

He served with the Metropolitan Police from 1985 to 1989, before transferring to Bedfordshire Police. The 208 cm (6 ft 10in) tall Bayfield made his England debut in 1991, and although he was omitted from the 1991 World Cup squad, he was a part of the 1992 Five Nations Grand Slam winning side. He went on the 1993 British Lions tour to New Zealand, and was part of the 1995 World Cup squad. Since retirement, Bayfield has worked as a presenter for BT Sport, an after-dinner speaker, and has appeared in all of the Harry Potter films playing the half-giant Hagrid, as Robbie Coltrane's body and stunt double.

He played for England 55 times and was known as the "Blackpool Tower", as a result of being 6 feet 8 inches tall and a police officer with Lancashire Constabulary in Blackpool. He later established a second-row partnership with fellow police officer Paul Ackford.Embed from Getty Images

The lock is a former English rugby union international who played lock forward. He was formerly an inspector in the Metropolitan Police, and is now a columnist for The Telegraph. He went on the 1989 British Lions tour to Australia, where he played in all three tests.Embed from Getty Images

He is a retired Australian rugby union player who played for the Wallabies 38 times between 1989 and 1999, and earned over 100 caps for the Queensland Reds during his rugby career. Crowley also worked as an undercover police officer with the Queensland Police Force, specialising in busting drug-rings on Queensland's Gold Coast.

Sitting down at the start of 2017 once he knew Glasgow did not plan to keep him under new boss Dave Rennie, and uninspired by the new offers on the table, he made a radical decision to join the Italian police force.