Gareth Leon Delve (born 30 December 1982) is a former

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, and former captain of

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean to the west, east of Monmouth and east ...

. In late 2010, he moved to Australia where he went on to captain the

Melbourne Rebels The Melbourne Rebels is an Australian professional rugby union team based in Melbourne. They made their debut in SANZAR's Super Rugby tournament in 2011. They were the first privately owned professional rugby union team in Australia, until 2017 ...

. His usual position is number 8.

Career

Wales and England

Delve was a pupil at Rumney High School in Cardiff and accepted a Rugby scholarship from

Colston's Collegiate School Collegiate School (formerly known as Colston's Collegiate School and Colston’s School) is an independent day school in Bristol, England, and is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference. It is currently in a period of transiti ...

in Bristol before signing a professional contract with Bath in 2001. After a few frustrating seasons at Bath, he was named in the Welsh squad for the

2006 Six Nations Championship The 2006 Six Nations Championship was the seventh series of the rugby union Six Nations Championship to be held since the competition expanded in 2000 to include Italy. Including the previous incarnations as the Home Nations and Five Nations, this ...

, and earned two caps during the tournament, making his debut against

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. He was also called up for the summer tour to Argentina in June 2006, and earned another two caps, as well as scoring a try in the second Test. In the summer of 2007, he moved from Bath to

Gloucester Rugby Gloucester Rugby are a professional rugby union club based in the West Country city of Gloucester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby, as well as in the European Rugby Champions Cup. The club was formed i ...

. He was appointed joint captain of Gloucester in 2009, a position he held in 2010, before he moved to Australia. In March 2010, he was recalled to the Wales squad and selected in the starting line-up for the match versus Ireland. He was named in the preliminary squad for the

2011 Rugby World Cup The 2011 Rugby World Cup was the seventh Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. The International Rugby Board (IRB) selected New Zealand as the host country in preference to Japan and South Af ...

but was ultimately left out of the final squad.

Australia

In March 2010, Delve signed with the

, and joined the team in October, in preparation for the

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

Super Rugby Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Building on various Southern Hem ...

season. The move to Melbourne saw Delve reconnect with former Bath Forwards Coach Mark Bakewell. Although there had been speculation that Delve might play blindside flanker, he became the Rebels regular No.8. In February 2011, Delve was appointed the Rebels' vice captain, deputy to former

Wallaby A wallaby () is a small or middle-sized Macropodidae, macropod native to Australia and New Guinea, with introduced populations in New Zealand, Hawaii, the United Kingdom and other countries. They belong to the same Taxonomy (biology), taxon ...

captain

Stirling Mortlock Stirling Austin Mortlock AM (born 20 May, 1977) is a former Australian professional rugby union player. He has scored more than 1,000 points in Super Rugby, and nearly 500 test points for the Wallabies. Mortlock is a former Wallaby, Melbourne Re ...

. In Round 9 of the 2011 season, Delve became the first overseas player to captain an Australian

side (v. Highlanders, in Melbourne). In 2011, Delve earned a call up to the initial 45-man Welsh World Cup squad, training in Spala, Poland. He missed the first training session due to Rebels duties. He was to join the squad after the final games for the Rebels against the Western Force. In June 2012, he re-signed with the Rebels for 2013. Rebels CEO Steven Boland said Delve had been wonderful ambassador for the Rebels. "His leadership has also been outstanding and given the upcoming retirement of our Captain Stirling Mortlock, Gareth will once again be an important part of our leadership group next year." In May 2013, it was announced that Delve would leave the Rebels at the end of the season, along with head coach Damien Hill and fellow Rebels players James O'Connor,

Cooper Vuna Kerry Cooper Vuna (born 7 May 1987) is a professional rugby footballer who plays on the wing for Newcastle Falcons in Premiership Rugby. He played rugby league as a for the New Zealand Warriors and Newcastle Knights in the National Rugby Leagu ...

Ged Robinson Ged Robinson (born 20 June 1983 in Wellington, New Zealand) is a rugby union footballer. His regular playing position is hooker. He formerly represented the Melbourne Rebels in Super Rugby, and he formerly played 5 games for the and mostly on ...

, Nick Phipps, Nic Henderson, James King,

Tim Davidson Tim Davidson (born 3 November 1982, in Young, Australia) is a rugby union footballer. His regular playing position is either flanker or eighthman. He represented the Melbourne Rebels in Super Rugby having previously played for the Western For ...

and

Richard Kingi Richard Kingi (born 17 March 1989 in Tauranga, New Zealand) is an Australian professional Rugby union footballer. While his usual position is half back, he often plays on the wing and sometimes at fullback. Career Brought up in Te Puke near th ...

. His last game as a Rebels player was a home game against New Zealand franchise the Highlanders, a match that also turned out to be the last Rebels match for head coach Damien Hill and players James O'Connor,

, Nick Phipps and Nic Henderson. In front of over 12,000 spectators, the Rebels overcame a 24-point half-time deficit to achieve a remarkable 38–37 come-from-behind victory over the Highlanders, ending Delve's tenure as a Rebels player on a winning note.

Japan

It had been speculated in the Australian press that Delve would continue his rugby union career in Japan. It was officially confirmed that Delve would join

NEC Green Rockets NEC Green Rockets Tokatsu (formerly NEC Green Rockets) is a Japanese rugby union team in the Japan Rugby League One. The team's captain iRyota Asano The previous captain was Takuro Miuchi, who was also the captain of the Japan national rugby unio ...

in the Japanese

Top League Japan Rugby League One (formerly the Top League) is a rugby union competition in Japan. It is the highest level of professional rugby competition in the country. The Japan Rugby Football Union created the competition in 2003, by absorbing the ...

for the next season.

Return to the UK

On 27 March 2015, it was announced Delve had signed a two-year contract with Welsh region Ospreys. He was released from his contract one year later.

Personal life

Late in 2010, while house hunting in Melbourne with his partner, Delve chanced upon a man allegedly assaulting a woman and attempting to push her into a car. It's alleged that the man attacked Delve, and was knocked to the ground. Delve called the police. The Melbourne ''

Age Age or AGE may refer to: Time and its effects * Age, the amount of time someone or something has been alive or has existed ** East Asian age reckoning, an Asian system of marking age starting at 1 * Ageing or aging, the process of becoming older ...

'' hinted Delve behaved like a superhero, but to Delve "The good thing was that he started being aggressive towards me instead of towards the woman ... the way I was brought up you don't like seeing things like that happen. In the situation it felt like the right thing to step in." Delve's parents are Steve Delve, a former prop and competitive bodybuilder, and Dolan Delve, née Taylor; both of whom are from Wales. When asked to describe some of his proudest moments, he replied that one was when "I

ave ''Alta Velocidad Española'' (''AVE'') is a service of high-speed rail in Spain operated by Renfe, the Spanish national railway company, at speeds of up to . As of December 2021, the Spanish high-speed rail network, on part of which the AVE s ...

my match jersey to my grandfather before he passed away so that was absolutely massive for me and something I'll always remember."

References

External links

Melbourne Rebels Player ProfileGloucester Rugby profileWales profile

WRC Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Delve, Gareth 1982 births Living people Bath Rugby players British expatriates in Australia British expatriates in Japan Expatriate rugby union players in Australia Expatriate rugby union players in Japan Rugby union players from Cardiff Rugby union number eights Gloucester Rugby players Melbourne Rebels players Green Rockets Tokatsu players People educated at Colston's School Welsh expatriate rugby union players Wales international rugby union players Sportspeople from Gloucestershire Ospreys (rugby union) players Welsh rugby union players