Neil Jenkins
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| Personal information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Neil Jenkins MBE | |
| Date of birth | 8 July 1971 | |
| Place of birth | Church Village, Rhondda Valleys, Wales | |
| Height | 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) | |
| Weight | 13 st 8 lbs (86 kg) | |
| Nickname(s) | The Ginger Monster / Jenks / Jinks / Wingnut | |
| School(s) attended | Bryn Celynnog Comprehensive school | |
| Club information | ||
| Position(s) | Fly-half | |
| Current club | Retired | |
| Number | 10 | |
| Youth representative teams | ||
| 1991 ‐ 92 | Wales U-21 | 1 (10) |
| Senior clubs* | ||
| Years | Club | Apps (points) |
____ ‐ 02 2002 ‐ 03 2003 ‐ 04 |
Pontypridd Cardiff Pontypridd Celtic Warriors |
22 (282) |
| Representative teams | ||
| 1991 ‐ 03 1997 & 01 |
Wales British and Irish Lions |
87 (1049) 4 (41) |
| Representative teams coached | ||
| 2004 ‐ | Wales coaching staff | |
|
* Professional club appearances and points |
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Neil Jenkins MBE (born 8 July 1971) is a former rugby union footballer who played fly-half, centre, or full back for Pontypridd, Cardiff, Celtic Warriors, Wales and the British and Irish Lions, and is currently the goalkicking coach for the Welsh national rugby team.
Jenkins was born in Church Village, Wales and attended Bryn Celynnog Comprehensive school in Beddau. He made his Wales debut aged 19 along with Scott Gibbs. Jenkins' main strength was his kicking, although he was deceptively quick in his early career. Despite this, he still received tremendous criticism and many felt that he was not worthy enough to inherit the Welsh number 10 shirt of Barry John, Phil Bennett and Cliff Morgan, leading Jenkins to tailor his game to the demands of the modern game. He developed his tackling, passing and running skills, especially under the coaching of Graham Henry, and became an excellent distributor of the ball, notably his excellent flat passes, and also a strong runner.
Kicking always remained his major strength - in the 2003/4 season, he was successful with 44 consecutive kicks at goal for his club side, the Celtic Warriors. This is a world record that many people believe will never be beaten.
Jenkins went on the 1997 British Lions tour to South Africa, playing full back in all three tests. His extremely accurate goalkicking enabled the Lions to beat the Springboks during the first two tests, and thus secure the series 2-1.
Jenkins also went on the 2001 British and Irish Lions tour to Australia, but was carrying an injury, allowing English fly-half Jonny Wilkinson to become the preferred fly-half and goalkicker. However, Jenkins did gain his fourth Lions cap as a late replacement in the second test.
During his 87 caps for Wales he scored 1,049 points (11 tries, 130 conversions, 235 penalties and 10 drop goals) and a further 41 points (1 conversion and 13 penalties) during his 4 caps for the British and Irish Lions for a grand total of 1,090 points. He retired as the only player to score over 1,000 points in international rugby. Jenkins' record has since been broken by Jonny Wilkinson in the Scotland-England match on 8 March 2008, in which Wilkinson took the record to 1,099 (although 20 of these points have been awarded retrospectively from the British and Irish Lions fixture against Argentina which took place at Millennium Stadium in Cardiff on May 23, 2005 and resulted in a 25 all draw).
Jenkins was left out of Wales' 2003 World Cup squad and subsequently announced his retirement from international rugby.
Despite the early public criticism, Jenkins has established himself as one of the most recognisable figures in Welsh rugby, and many Welsh rugby fans hold him in extremely high regard, not only because of his rugby achievements, but also because he has remained true to his roots, and is widely known to be approachable and genuine. Although he is no longer the leading points scorer in Test history, he is still considered to be the most accomplished goalkicker in both rugby codes.
In October 2000, Jenkins was given an MBE for services to sport. He famously picked up the MBE from Buckingham Palace before being flown back to the Welsh capital by helicopter for a rugby match in which he scored all 24 points for Cardiff in their 24-14 win over Saracens
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