Neil Jenkins

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Neil Jenkins bigraphy, stories - Welsh rugby union player

Neil Jenkins : biography

8 July 1971 –

Neil Jenkins MBE (born 8 July 1971) is a former rugby union football player and current coach. He played fly-half, centre, or full back for Pontypridd, Cardiff, Celtic Warriors, Wales and the British and Irish Lions. Jenkins is Wales’ highest ever points-scorer and is the third highest on the List of leading Rugby union Test point scorers. He was the first player to score 1,000 points in international matches.

In 2004 Jenkins joined the coaching staff of the Wales national rugby union team and is the kicking skills coach.

Off the Field

In 1999, Jenkins released his autobiography: Life at number 10: An AutobiographyNeil Jenkins, Paul Rees – Life at number 10: An Autobiography, published by Mainstream Publishing, 1998, ISBN 1-84018-245-8 with freelance journalist Paul Rees just a matter of weeks before breaking the International points scoring record. The book was republished in 2001 by Mainstream Publishing.

Also, on 10 November 2003 a DVD was released as a tribute to the Ginger Monster. Called Jenks – A Rugby Legend, the DVD tells the story of Jenkins from his start as a working class boy in the Welsh Valleys to the pinnacle of rugby.

In honour of Jenkins’ Testimonial career, the famous Grogg Shop in Pontypridd made a "Limited Edition Testimonial Action" Grogg of Jenkins. Wanting to make something special for the occasion, the Grogg was the first ever to stand on just one leg and took over 6 months to create. Only 100 were made, all of which were hand-painted in a variety of rugby kits – only three of which were in the Lions jersey, one owned by Jenkins, one by his mother and the other by Mike Donald of Ebbw Vale who bought the Grogg at an auction for £4,100.

Coaching career

In the autumn of 2004 Jenkins returned to the Welsh Rugby Union in the capacity of Kicking Skills Coach, working with the then newly formed WRU Academies to improve the future generations of outside halves. In the summer of 2006 he returned to the National Squad set up as Skills Coach, where he first worked for Gareth Jenkins during the 2007 Rugby World Cup campaign and subsequently Warren Gatland’s new-look management team.

During the 2007–2008 season, Jenkins helped the Welsh national team to a second Six Nations Grand Slam in four years.

The British and Irish Lions

On 8 June 2009 it was announced that Jenkins would be joining the British and Irish Lions as specialist kicking coach on their tour of South Africa.

Career

Jenkins first came to note as a rugby player when he joined Pontypridd in 1990, making his First XV debut on the 14th April. He made his Wales debut aged 19 along with Scott Gibbs on 19 January 1991 against England during the Five Nations Championship in Cardiff, a game that Wales lost 25–6. Despite a relatively uninteresting match Jenkins had the consolation of scoring his first three points thanks to a penalty. After the Five Nations campaign, Jenkins missed out on a place in the Welsh World Cup squad – the number ten position having been taken up by Mark Ring.

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. After just 28 test matches for Wales, he became the nation’s record points-scorer.

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.

In the final match of the 1999 Five Nations Championship, Jenkins famously kicked a conversion in the dying moments of the game to beat England 32–31 at Wembley in one of the most memorable games in the history of the tournament. This would deny their English counterparts the title as Scotland won on points difference, with Wales finishing in third.