Medal record
Rugby Sevens
Competitor for  Wales
Rugby World Cup Sevens
Gold	Dubai 2009

Aled Brew is a Wales international rugby union player who plays as a winger for Biarritz Olympique. He made his debut for the Wales national rugby union team against Ireland in the 2007 Six Nations Championship.

Biography[link]

Brew was born in Brynamman and raised a Welsh language speaker when the family including his older brother Nathan moved to Gwaun-Cae-Gurwen.

Semi-Professional career[link]

Brew played for Neath, Aberavon, Swansea and Pontypridd.

Ospreys[link]

He signed professional forms with Swansea RFC in 2008, and was sent out on loan to Pontypridd RFC.

He returned to the Ospreys, but was again sent out on loan to the Newport Gwent Dragons for the 2006/7 season. Playing alongside his brother, Brew was the victim of alleged racial abuse from fans on 16 February 2007, while playing against Ulster Rugby in Ulster. Ulster Rugby however were subsequently cleared of any wrong doing and the abuse was not proven.^[1] Brew scored 65 points in 28 appearances for the Dragons, scoring 13 tries.^[2]

Returning to the Ospreys for the 2007/8 season, he found competition hard against the very much in-form Shane Williams, and spent much times in the second team.

Cardiff Blues[link]

Brew signed for Cardiff Blues in May 2008. Having made one appearance for the Blues in the 2008–09 Magners League. Brew as an under 21 player was attached to Pontypridd RFC, before being loaned to Newport Gwent Dragons for the rest of the 2008–09 season.

Newport Gwent Dragons[link]

Brew returned to Newport Gwent Dragons on a permanent deal for the 2009–10 season.

Biarritz[link]

On Feb 2012 Brew signed for French club Biarritz Olympique for the 2012/13 season after it was believed that he would be staying at the Dragons after negotiations with Perpignan fell through.

International career[link]

Brew has represented Wales at U16, U18 and U21 levels, as well as appearing in the Wales Sevens. He was called into Wales's squad for the 2007 Six Nations Championship, making his senior debut as a replacement in the match against Ireland. Brew was also named as part of Gareth Jenkins's squad for the two-Test tour of Australia in May 2007; he gained his second Welsh cap in the second Test defeat in Brisbane. Brew was named in Jenkins's 41-man preliminary 2007 Rugby World Cup summer training squad in the June, but failed to make the final cut for the tournament.

Brew has represented Wales Sevens in the first two stages of the 2007–2008 IRB Sevens World Series, in Dubai and George, South Africa, where the team won the Bowl trophy in the latter leg. Brew was part of the Welsh team who won the Melrose Cup at the 2009 Rugby World Cup Sevens.

In November 2010 Brew was recalled to the Wales national squad for the Autumn international series and was selected in the starting line-up against Fiji. He scored his first international try versus the Barbarians on the 4th June 2011.

In August 2011 he was named in the Wales squad for the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand.^[3]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Newport Gwent Dragons profile
• Wales profile
• Ospreys profile

Shane Williams

Full name	Shane Mark Williams
Date of birth	(1977-02-26) 26 February 1977 (age 35)
Place of birth	Morriston, Swansea, Wales
Height	1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)
Weight	80 kg (12 st 8 lb)
School	Amman Valley School
Rugby union career
Playing career
Position	Wing Scrum-half
Amateur clubs
Years	Club / team
	Amman United
Professional / senior clubs
Years	Club / team	Caps	(points)
1998–2003 2003–2012	Neath Ospreys	81 136	(223) (276)
correct as of 12:07, 7 November 2010 (UTC).
National team(s)
Years	Club / team	Caps	(points)
2000–2011 2005, 2009	Wales British and Irish Lions	87 4	(290) (10)
correct as of 20:14, 03 Dec 2011 (UTC).

Shane Mark Williams (born 26 February 1977) is a Welsh former international rugby union player who has played as a wing for the Ospreys. He can also play scrum-half.^[1] Williams is the record try scorer for the Wales national team and he is third on the international list of leading Rugby union Test try scorers behind Daisuke Ohata and David Campese. He is Wales' most capped winger.

In 2008, Williams was selected as the IRB International Player of the Year.^[2]

Williams is well known for his side-step, acceleration and his ability to find open space through opposition defence. He has been described as one of the most exciting wingers in the world.^[3]

Since his retirement from international rugby in 2012, Williams has worked as a presenter on S4C's Six Nations rugby programme Y Clwb Rygbi Rhyngwladol^[4]. Williams has been selected in the Barbarians squad. If he plays, it is likely to be his last ever appearance as a player^[5].

Early life[link]

Williams was born in Morriston in Swansea, but grew up in Glanaman in the Amman Valley. He picked up his first rugby ball while still in primary school, and was always small for his age, even going into secondary school at Amman Valley Comprehensive School (now Ysgol Dyffryn Aman). Told that he was too small to play rugby, Williams took up football instead, playing for Cwmamman United A.F.C.; in his first appearance for the club's junior team, Williams had to play in goal as no one else would volunteer to take the position. Williams' former junior football coach, Alun Rees, remembers him as a "superb goalkeeper", but notes that he could also play outfield. Williams played for Cwmamman United up to the senior level, while only playing rugby sporadically, and admits that, at the time, football was "[his] main sport". However, on the day of Cwmamman United's cup final, Williams was invited to play rugby with his friends at Amman United RFC; Amman United ended up winning by 82 points, with Williams scoring five tries.

Club career[link]

Williams started his junior career as a scrum-half at Amman United he joined Neath as a second-choice scrum-half. However, it became apparent to Lyn Jones, Neath's then-coach, that Williams simply could not be left out of the side, and placed him on the right wing, opposite Delme Williams on the left. However, Delme Williams had shown a tendency not to kick and chase the ball, resulting in him and Shane swapping wings.

When it came to Williams signing his first professional contract with Neath, Amman United demanded a transfer fee for him, resulting in negotiations between the two clubs. Nevertheless, Williams eventually signed for Neath on a contract worth approximately £7,500 per annum, equivalent to his wage at the local Job Centre where he was working part-time.

In his final Ospreys match at the Liberty Stadium he finished his career there in similar style as he did with Wales scoring a try past the 80 Minute mark and converted his own try for his final bow at the Liberty. Williams then, in his last game of professional club rugby, scored 2 tries for Ospreys in the PRO12 final 30-31 win against Leinster. This included one in the 78th minute to give Dan Biggar, what proved to be, the winning conversion.

International career[link]

Williams was awarded his first cap by Graham Henry as a replacement against France in 1999–2000 Six Nations season, he was three weeks short of his 23rd birthday and weighed a little over 11 stone. He scored in his first full start for Wales with a try against Italy in the same Six Nations tournament and went on to score a total of 60 international tries (58 for Wales, 2 for the British and Irish Lions). Williams is also Wales' record try scorer in Six Nations Championships with 22 and Wales' record try scorer in Rugby World Cups with 10. Colin Charvis holds the Welsh record for tries by a forward with 22. In addition, he has also scored 6 tries for the Lions in tour games, of which, five were in one game.

He suffered a series of hamstring injuries in 2002 and did not often figure in Steve Hansen's squad. He considered quitting rugby entirely at this time.^[6]

He was part of the Grand Slam-winning Wales side in the 2005 Six Nations championship, where he scored tries against Italy, Scotland, and most famously England, the try that helped them achieve a famous 11–9 victory that got their campaign underway. He was then selected to the British and Irish Lions for their 2005 New Zealand tour. On 28 June, he equalled a single-game Lions record by scoring five tries in a tour match against Manawatu.

In the summer of 2007, Williams underwent elbow and shoulder surgery and missed the tour of Australia. However, he did return in time to play the last World Cup warm up game against France. During the 2007 Rugby World Cup, Williams earned his 50th cap against Japan. He scored two tries in that match, temporarily putting him on top of the 2007 World Cup try-scoring table with a total of five tries. The tries also put him above Ieuan Evans on the all-time Wales try scoring list, trailing only Gareth Thomas at that time. His try against France in their Six Nations decider on 15 March 2008 placed him joint eighth on the all-time Test try scoring list with Thomas, and surpassed Thomas on the all-time Wales try scoring list.

Williams scores a try for the Ospreys away to Ulster in April 2010.

He participated in a second Grand Slam win with Wales in the 2008 Six Nations Championship, when he scored tries against Scotland (twice), Italy (twice), Ireland, and France, breaking the record on the all-time Wales try scoring list in the championship's final match against France, when he scored his 41st try for Wales. This try resulted in his father Mark Williams winning £25,000 from a £50 bet placed almost 10 years previously that he'd one day become Wales' leading try scorer.^[7] His performances in the Six Nations led to him being named the player of the tournament.

On 23 November 2008, Williams became the first Welshman to be named IRB International Player of the Year, beating fellow Welshman Ryan Jones, New Zealand's Dan Carter, Scotland captain Mike Blair, and Italy captain Sergio Parisse [1]

On 7 December 2008, he won the BBC Welsh Sports Personality Of The Year, seeing off the competition of Tom James, David Roberts, Geraint Thomas and runners up Joe Calzaghe and Nicole Cooke.

In his first 2009 Six Nations game against Scotland he scored his 45th test try to take him above Jeff Wilson on the all-time leading try scorers list to sixth. During the game he received an ankle injury and was taken off the pitch. Following the injury he missed the next game against England, but would start for Wales' third game against France.^[8] In the fourth game of the championship, Williams scored Wales' opening try against Italy to take himself to equal fifth on the all-time leading try scorers list.

On 21 April 2009, Williams was named as a member of the British and Irish Lions for the 2009 tour to South Africa.^[9] Williams missed out on a starting place in the first two Tests but was selected to play in the final Test where he produced a man-of-the-match winning performance and scored two tries that contributed to the 28–9 victory over the Springboks.^[10]

On 21 November 2009, Williams scored two tries in Wales' comfortable 33–16 win over Argentina in the Millennium Stadium, taking his international try tally to 50.^[11]

On 13 February 2010, Williams scored the winning try against Scotland in Cardiff, completing a remarkable Welsh comeback. Wales trailed 24–14 with 4 minutes remaining in the game, and Williams' try on the last play of the game took the final score to 31–24 to Wales. It was Williams' 49th international try for Wales (51st in all internationals), and his 18th in the Six Nations, equalling the record by a Welshman in the tournament, held by Gareth Edwards.^[12]

On 26 February 2010, Williams again scored in the final minute in the 26–20 loss to France. This score handed him sole position of tries scored by a Welshman in the tournament with 19 tries for his country.^[13] He would subsequently increase his Six Nations tally to 22 tries.

He was apart of the Rugby World Cup 2011 squad in New Zealand and scored three tries. One of them being scored in the quarter final against Ireland in Wellington. Wales reached the semi-finals.

Williams stated that he would retire from playing for Wales after the 2011 Rugby World Cup but later decided to play against Australia on 3 December 2011. Williams' last match ended in him scoring a final try to round off his glittering career. He scored his 58th try with the very last touch of his international career in overtime as the game finished 24-18 to Australia. He said that wearing the Welsh jersey was the "best feeling ever".

Personal life[link]

In August 2005, a holiday to Cyprus made the headlines when Williams was erroneously held over an assault. The police lost his passport; his lawyer described the whole incident as a "total stitch-up"; and on his return to Wales, Williams suggested that he should have spent his holiday in Tenby instead.

On 23 December 2005, Williams married his childhood sweetheart Gail Branwen Lacey, whom he had met at Amman Valley school 14 years previously, at Twyn Church in Garnant. The couple's first daughter, Georgie, was born on 7 November 2006.^[14] Williams and Lacey went on to have a son, Carter, born 11 July 2009.^[15]

Points record[link]

Statistics as of 3 May 2008, taken from the official site of the Ospreys,^[16] as of the 22 April 2012 taken from the official site of the Welsh Rugby Union^[17] and the British and Irish Lions.^[18]

Television appearances[link]

Williams has appeared numerous times in S4C Welsh language Television programmes. He was green gunged with swimmer David Davies in the Crawfr children's television programme and in 2011 has appeared in Clwb Rygbi Shane.^[19]

In 2012 Williams made a cameo appearance as himself in an episode of the UK TV comedy drama Stella.

In February 2012, Williams joined the team of BBC Wales pundits, covering the Six Nations.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Shane Williams' details on the Ospreys website
• Wales profile
• Scrum.com's page
• Yahoo Sports page

Awards
Preceded by Bryan Habana	IRB International Player of the Year 2008	Succeeded by Richie McCaw
Preceded by Joe Calzaghe	BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year 2008	Succeeded by Ryan Giggs

Gordon D'Arcy

Date of birth	(1980-02-10) 10 February 1980 (age 32)
Place of birth	Ferns, County Wexford, Republic of Ireland
Height	5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Weight	14 st 8 lb (93 kg)
School	Clongowes Wood College
University	University College Dublin
Rugby union career
Playing career
Position	Inside Centre
Amateur clubs
Years	Club / team
	Lansdowne FC
Professional / senior clubs
Years	Club / team	Caps	(points)
1998–present	Leinster	195	(299) 53 Tries
correct as of Jan 2012.
National team(s)
Years	Club / team	Caps	(points)
2005,2009 1999–present	Lions Ireland	1 68	(0) (35)
correct as of 18 Mar 2012.

Gordon William D'Arcy (born 10 February 1980, Ferns, County Wexford^[1]) is an Irish rugby player, more specifically an inside centre. He is registered to Lansdowne RFC and plays for provincial and RaboDirect Pro12 side Leinster.

Career[link]

D'Arcy was a promising fullback for schools side Clongowes Wood in the late 1990s, and on the eve of his Leaving Cert was called into the Irish squad for the tour of South Africa by coach Warren Gatland. However, because of his studies he declined the opportunity.^[2] On leaving school he joined the Lansdowne Rugby Club and made his Ireland debut on 15 October 1999 as a substitute against Romania during the World Cup.

Following a falling out with his provincial coaches regarding his attitude – which almost drove him to retire from the game – D'Arcy was left out of the international setup for three years. His second game for his country came on 17 November 2002 as a late substitute in Ireland's 64–17 win over Fiji. He made a further three appearances as a substitute during 2003. He was not selected for the Irish squad for the 2003 Rugby World Cup in Australia, but was picked for the Leinster team during the absence of its World Cup players. It was then that he came into his own, playing some of the best rugby of his career at fullback/wing, where he displayed delightful skill in running from deep and finishing off the moves that he had started. After the World Cup, an injury to Brian O'Driscoll, his Leinster team mate, saw D'Arcy move to outside centre, where he made a great impression.

Owing to the further absence of O'Driscoll from the Irish squad for the first match of the Six Nations in that season against France, D'Arcy found himself in the number 13 jersey at international level. Such was his form that, on O'Driscoll's return, he kept his place, allowing the selectors to experiment with O'Driscoll at inside centre.

He was voted player of the Six Nations tournament in 2004 as he helped inspire his country to the Triple Crown for the first time since 1985. What most impressed supporters was his ability to wrong-foot the flat-defence off passes from O'Driscoll and to create space out of nothing; this was particularly appreciated in his performance against England at Twickenham. It seemed that a new type of centre partnership had been created, which superseded the grinding format preferred by international coaches, of using a crash centre at no.12 and ignoring the possibilities of quick offloads in the centre of the field. The new centre combination was also impressive in its hard and intelligent defence, which often converted into successful counter-attack. D'Arcy was nominated for IRB Player Of The Year in 2004

Despite an injury plagued 2004–05 season, D'Arcy was named in the British and Irish Lions squad for their 2005 tour to New Zealand. But his performances during the tour were generally poor, and he reputedly refused to play in the final test against New Zealand, though he vehemently denies this.^[3] There were fears at that stage that his form during the 2003/04 season would prove to have been a flash in the pan. However, he has been back fully fit for Leinster and Ireland in the 2005/06 season and has impressed in a new-look, much more attack minded Leinster team.

D'Arcy played in all of Ireland's 2006 Six Nations matches, he beat more defenders than any other player, and showed his talent. His return to top form continued during the autumn international series where his performances against Australia and South Africa contributed to back – to – back victories for the Irish team. D'Arcy now usually plays at inside centre for Leinster and Ireland with O'Driscoll outside him. He played in all of Ireland's 2007 Six Nations matches, he was nominated for RBS Six Nations Player Of The Tournament in 2007. After sustaining a multiple fracture in his arm in the opening match of the 2008 Six Nations, versus Italy, D'Arcy missed the remainder of the season and only returned to Leinster in December 2008. He was a member of the victorious Ireland team that won the 2009 Six Nations Championship and Grand Slam.^[4]

In May 2009, D'Arcy was named in the Barbarians squad to play England and Australia along with Ireland team mate Geordan Murphy and Leinster colleague Rocky Elsom.,^[5] the Barbarians ended up beating England by 33 points to 26, with D'Arcy scoring one of the tries.^[6] On 3 June 2009, D'Arcy was called up for the British and Irish Lions squad for the tour in South Africa due to injuries in the squad. He featured for Ireland against Fiji and South Africa during the 2009 November Tests, and started every game in the 2010 Six Nations. He started against New Zealand in the 2010 Summer Tests and scored 1 try, but a groin problem kept him out of Ireland's remaining test against Australia.^[7][8] He earned his 50th cap against South Africa on 6 November 2010.^[9]

D'Arcy^[10] was named in the Ireland Rugby World Cup 2011 squad despite an apparent lack of form.^[11] In the Australia vs Ireland match at the 2011 World Cup, D'Arcy and O'Driscoll set the world record for most appearances as a centre partnership together in international rugby, at 45 appearances. This broke the previous record set by Will Carling and Jeremy Guscott.^[12]

Personal life[link]

D'Arcy regularly partakes in charity work, including work for Barretstown, GOAL.ie, personal appearances at various children's hospitals in Dublin and work with Brainwave (an epilepsy society in Ireland) and the Irish MS society. He enrolled in UCD 1st year arts for the academic year 2007/08. A native of County Wexford, he is a fan of Wexford GAA.^{[citation needed]}

References[link]

External links[link]

• Leinster profile
• IRFU profile
• Lions profile
• ESPNscrum profile