Dan Baker (born 5 July 1992) is a

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

international

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

player. A back row forward, he plays for Ystradgynlais RFC having previously played for the

Dragons A dragon is a reptilian legendary creature that appears in the folklore of many cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depicted as ...

Stade Montois Stade Montois is a French rugby union team that currently is playing in Pro D2, the second level of the country's professional league system. They were founded in 1908 and play in yellow and black. They are based in Mont-de-Marsan, the capita ...

Ospreys The osprey (''Pandion haliaetus''), , also called sea hawk, river hawk, and fish hawk, is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey with a cosmopolitan range. It is a large raptor reaching more than in length and across the wings. It is brown o ...

and Aberavon RFC

Club career

Baker came through the Ospreys grade age system, beginning with Ystradgynlais RFC. He played for

Swansea RFC Swansea Rugby Football Club is a Welsh rugby union team which plays in the Welsh Premiership. The club play at St Helen's Rugby and Cricket Ground in Swansea and are also known as ''The Whites,'' in reference to their home kit colours. History ...

, before makes his debut for the

in January 2013 in an

Anglo-Welsh Cup The Anglo-Welsh Cup (), was a cross-border rugby union knock-out cup competition that featured the 12 Premiership Rugby clubs and the four Welsh regions. It was a created as a replacement for the RFU Knockout Cup, which featured only English clubs ...

fixture against the

. He signed a contract extension with the Ospreys in April 2014. In November 2015, he signed a National Dual Contract with the Ospreys and the Welsh Rugby Union. Baker signed another extension with the Ospreys in November 2016. Baker was named as man of the match in a

Pro12 The United Rugby Championship (URC) is an annual rugby union competition involving professional teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa, and Wales. The current name was adopted in 2021 when the league expanded to include four South Afr ...

match against Connacht on 7 January 2017, scoring a try in the win. He suffered a serious knee injury on 15 October 2017, and was ruled out for the remainder of the season. Baker ultimately did not return until September 2019. Baker departed the Ospreys in 2020 for

Pro D2 Rugby Pro D2, also known as Pro D2 is the second tier of rugby union club competition division in France. It is operated by Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR) which also runs the division directly above, the first division Top 14. Rugby Pro D2 was in ...

club

. He joined the Dragons in February 2021 initially to play until the end of the season, but was later signed for the following season. Baker was released by the Dragons in 2022, and subsequently joined Aberavon RFC. Baker returned to home town club Ystradgynlais RFC for the 2023-24 season.

International career

Baker was selected for Wales U20 for the

2012 Six Nations Under 20s Championship The 2012 Six Nations Under 20s Championship was a rugby union competition held between February and March 2012. England won the tournament and the Triple Crown. Final table Results Round one Round two Round three Round four Roun ...

. He was part of the Wales U20 team that beat New Zealand U20 in the

2012 IRB Junior World Championship The 2012 IRB Junior World Championship was the fifth annual international rugby union competition for Under 20 national teams. This competition replaced the now defunct Under 19 and Under 21 world championships. The event was organised in South A ...

, their first win over New Zealand at that age level, and a first Welsh win over a New Zealand national team since 1953. In May 2013 he was selected in the

Wales national rugby union team The Wales national rugby union team ( cy, Tîm rygbi'r undeb cenedlaethol Cymru) represents Wales in men's international rugby union. Its governing body, the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU), was established in 1881, the same year that Wales played thei ...

32 man training squad for the summer 2013 tour to Japan. He made his international debut against Japan on 8 June 2013. Baker made his third appearance for Wales on 8 August 2015, in a World Cup warm up match against Ireland. He was ultimately not selected for the final squad. Baker was selected by caretaker coach

Rob Howley Robert Howley (born 13 October 1970) is a Welsh former rugby union player and coach. As a player, he won 59 caps for Wales, 22 of them as captain. He was part of the Wales coaching team for many years. He is currently a coaching consultant for th ...

in the squad for the

2016 end-of-year rugby union internationals The 2016 end-of-year rugby union internationals, also known as the ''2016 Autumn Internationals'' in the Northern Hemisphere, were a series of international rugby union matches predominantly played between the visiting Southern Hemisphere countries: ...

, but did not appear in any of the match day squads, and ultimately gained no further caps for Wales.

References

External links

Dragons profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baker, Dan Wales international rugby union players Welsh rugby union players Ospreys (rugby union) players 1992 births Rugby union players from Neath Living people Stade Montois Rugby players Dragons RFC players Rugby union number eights Ystradgynlais RFC players