Gwenllian Pyrs (born 28 November 1997) is a Welsh

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 who plays loosehead prop for the

Wales women's national rugby union team The Wales women's national rugby union team first played in 1987. Wales plays in the Women's Rugby World Cup and the Women's Six Nations Championship History Wales Women have played as a team officially since 5 April 1987 when a Wales Women te ...

and

Sale Sharks Women Sale Sharks Women are a women's rugby union club based in Sale, Greater Manchester, England. They were founded in 2020 as the women's team of Premiership Rugby side Sale Sharks. They currently compete in the Premier 15s, the highest division o ...

Premier 15s The Premier 15s, currently known for sponsorship purposes as the Allianz Premier 15s, is the top tier of the women's English rugby union domestic league system run by the Rugby Football Union (RFU). The league was created mainly from teams in t ...

. She made her debut for the Wales rugby union team in 2017 and has played in 15 matches for the national side. Pyrs has played for Scarlets, RGC Women,

Caernarfon RFC Caernarfon Rugby Football Club ( cy, Clwb Rygbi Caernarfon) is a rugby union team from the town of Caernarfon, Gwynedd, North Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It ...

and Firwood Waterloo at the club level. She works as a farmer, sheepdog breeder and trainer as well as a rugby hub officer for the

Welsh Rugby Union The Welsh Rugby Union (WRU; cy, Undeb Rygbi Cymru) is the Sports governing body, governing body of rugby union in the country of Wales, recognised by the sport's international governing body, World Rugby. The WRU is responsible for the running ...

while continuing her rugby career.

Biography

Pyrs' birth was on 28 November 1997 in

Bangor, Gwynedd Bangor (; ) is a cathedral city and community A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated ...

North Wales , area_land_km2 = 6,172 , postal_code_type = Postcode , postal_code = LL, CH, SY , image_map1 = Wales North Wales locator map.svg , map_caption1 = Six principal areas of Wales common ...

. She grew up in the Welsh-speaking community of Ysbyty Ifan in the River Conwy area in North West Snowdonia with nine other siblings. Pyrs is the daughter of the farmer and publican Eryl, who in 1980, was a founder member of Nant Conwy RFC. Pyrs was educated at

Ysgol Dyffryn Conwy Ysgol Dyffryn Conwy is a bilingual co-educational comprehensive school in the town of Llanrwst in Conwy County Borough, North Wales. The school serves the community of Llanrwst and the many surrounding villages including the rural districts of B ...

and Ysgol Ysbyty Ifan. She has also taken part in

sheepdog trial A sheepdog trial (also herding event, stock dog trial or simply dog trial) — is a competition or test for working abilities of herding breeds dogs. It is a type of dog sport that emerged in the 1860s in New Zealand. By the 1870s regular trials ...

s as a trainer from April to October, and trains and breeds sheepdogs. , her

(WRU) biography lists her height as and her weight at . Pyrs plays as loosehead prop and lists her female role model as

Dyddgu Hywel Dyddgu Hywel (born 10 March 1989) is a Welsh rugby union player who plays fullback for the Gloucester Hartpury and the Wales women's national rugby union team. She won her first international cap against Ireland at the 2013 Women's Six Nations C ...

. She works as a farmer as well as a rugby hub officer for the WRU and Urdd Chwaraeon at multiple schools in the Conwy Valley area while continuing her rugby career by commuting long hours three times a week to travel from

Blaenau Ffestiniog Blaenau Ffestiniog is a town in Gwynedd, Wales. Once a slate mining centre in historic Merionethshire, it now relies much on tourists, drawn for instance to the Ffestiniog Railway and Llechwedd Slate Caverns. It reached a population of 12,00 ...

to the National Centre of Excellence in Cardiff,

South Wales South Wales ( cy, De Cymru) is a loosely defined region of Wales bordered by England to the east and mid Wales to the north. Generally considered to include the historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire, south Wales extends westwards ...

for training. Pyrs is fluent in English and Welsh. Whilst Pyrs played rugby union with her siblings on the family farm, she only began to take up the sport seriously when Nant Conwy formed an under-18s team in 2014. She worked as an apprentice for the

and Urdd. Pyrs made her international debut for the Wales women's rugby union team, coming on as a second-half replacement in the national side's first round

2017 Women's Six Nations Championship The 2017 Women's Six Nations Championship, also known as the 2017 RBS Women's Six Nations due to the tournament's sponsorship by the Royal Bank of Scotland, was the 16th series of the Women's Six Nations Championship, an annual women's rugby union ...

match against

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, which Wales won 20–8. Pyrs was named to the Wales side for the

2017 Women's Rugby World Cup The 2017 Women's Rugby World Cup was the eighth edition of the Women's Rugby World Cup and was held in Ireland in August 2017. New Zealand became the 2017 champions by beating England 41–32 in the final on 26 August. Matches were held in Dubl ...

. In late January 2019, she sustained soft tissue damage and a cut on her head in a road accident at approximately while travelling with teammate Bethan Davies to Cardiff to train, ruling her out for the whole of the

2019 Women's Six Nations Championship The 2019 Women's Six Nations Championship was the 18th series of the Women's Six Nations Championship, an annual women's rugby union competition between six European rugby union national teams. Matches were held in February and March 2019, on the ...

. Pyrs recovered enough to play in the November 2019 international matches against

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

in Dublin and was omnipresent in the Wales national team for the remainder of the year and the

2020 Women's Six Nations Championship The 2020 Women's Six Nations Championship was the 19th series of the Women's Six Nations Championship, an annual women's rugby union competition between six European rugby union national teams. Matches were originally scheduled for February and ...

. Overall, Pyrs has played 19 times for Wales. At the club level, she has played for Scarlets, RGC 1404,

and Firwood Waterloo of the English

. Pyrs was part of the RGC Women team who finished runner-up in the 2018 Regional Championship. In late July 2020, she signed for

also of Premier 15s to expand their roster with experience in the team's front row. Pyrs made the move to

Bristol Bears Bristol Bears (officially Bristol Rugby Club or Bristol Rugby) are a professional rugby union club based in Bristol, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was founded as Bristol Football Club in 18 ...

ahead of the 2022/2023 season after signing a professional contract with Wales in January. Pyrs was selected in

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 ...

squad for the

2021 Rugby World Cup The 2021 Rugby World Cup was the ninth staging of the women's Rugby World Cup, as organised by World Rugby. It was held from 8 October to 12 November 2022 in Auckland and Whangārei, New Zealand. It was originally scheduled to be held in 2021, ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Prys, Gwenllian 1997 births Living people 21st-century Welsh women People educated at Ysgol Dyffryn Conwy Rugby union players from Bangor, Gwynedd Rugby union props Sale Sharks Women players Wales women's international rugby union players Welsh farmers Welsh female rugby union players Bristol Bears Women players