Gareth Baber (born 23 May 1972) is a Welsh former rugby player and now a rugby union coach. He is best known for coaching and leading the Fiji sevens team to win their second gold medal in rugby sevens at the

2020 Tokyo Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the 1 ...

. He coached Fiji to their fourth World Sevens Series title. He has won the most tournaments in the world series as coach for the Fiji Islands. During his playing career Baber earned a Blue for Oxford University's rugby team. He also featured at scrum-half for

Pontypridd RFC Pontypridd Rugby Football Club ( cy, Clwb Rygbi Pontypridd) are a rugby union team from Pontypridd, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. They compete in the Indigo Group Premiership, which they won for four consecutive seasons between 2012 and 2015, and ...

, and featured prominently in Pontypridd's

European Shield The European Shield (known as the Parker Pen Shield for sponsorship reasons) was a repechage tournament for teams knocked out in the first round of the European Challenge Cup. As such, it formed Europe's third-tier club rugby union competition ...

victory over

London Irish London Irish RFC is a professional rugby union club which competes in the Premiership, the top division of English rugby union. The club has also competed in the Anglo-Welsh Cup, the European Champions Cup and European Challenge Cup. While ...

in 2001 where he appeared on the

wing A wing is a type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid. Accordingly, wings have streamlined cross-sections that are subject to aerodynamic forces and act as airfoils. A wing's aerodynamic efficiency is expres ...

Coaching

Baber was assistant coach with the Wales national under-20 team. Baber was also academy skills coach at Welsh regional side

Cardiff Blues Cardiff Rugby ( cy, Rygbi Caerdydd) are one of the four professional Welsh rugby union teams. They compete in the United Rugby Championship and in European Professional Club Rugby competitions. Based in Cardiff, the team play at Cardiff Arms ...

. In July 2011 Baber and

Justin Burnell Justin Burnell (born 29 May 1967) is a Welsh former rugby footballer and now a rugby union coach. During his playing career as a back row forward Burnell played for Cardiff RFC, Pontypridd RFC and Neath RFC. He also gained Wales A Honours. Burn ...

were appointed Head Coaches of the

following the resignation of

Dai Young David "Dai" Young (born 26 July 1967) is a Welsh rugby union coach and former rugby union and rugby league footballer. He was recently Director of Rugby at Premiership Rugby club Wasps but departed the club after initially stepping down from f ...

. In November 2013, Baber became head of Hong Kong men's rugby sevens and directed the senior men's, women's and youth programmes at elite level. In October 2016 he signed four-year contract with

Fiji Rugby Union Fiji Rugby Union (FRU) is the governing body for the sport of rugby union in Fiji. It is divided into over 30 provincial unions. The Fiji Rugby Union is a member of the Pacific Islands Rugby Alliance (PIRA), along with Samoa and Tonga. There are a ...

to coach the

Fiji national rugby sevens team The Fiji National Rugby Sevens Team has competed in the World Rugby Sevens Series, Rugby World Cup Sevens and the Olympics. Fiji won the gold medal in the inaugural rugby sevens at the Summer Olympics in 2016 in Br ...

. Since becoming the Fiji sevens team head coach, he has won eleven tournaments with them, beating the previous record set by Ben Ryan of nine. He also guided Fiji in winning the 2018-19 World Rugby Sevens Series after close a battle for points with the United States throughout the series. He is now an Olympic winner after winning gold in rugby sevens at the Tokyo 2020 Games.

References

External links

Newport Gwent Dragons profileWelsh Rugby Union profilePontypridd RFC profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baber, Gareth Welsh rugby union coaches Welsh rugby union players Pontypridd RFC players Dragons RFC players Bristol Bears players Oxford University RFC players Rugby union players from Cardiff Alumni of the University of Oxford Aberavon RFC players Rugby sevens players at the 2006 Commonwealth Games 1972 births Living people Commonwealth Games rugby sevens players of Wales