Gareth Cooper (born 7 May 1979 in

Bridgend Bridgend (; cy, Pen-y-bont ar Ogwr or just , meaning "the end of the bridge on the Ogmore") is a town in Bridgend County Borough in Wales, west of Cardiff and east of Swansea. The town is named after the Old Bridge, Bridgend, medieval bridge ...

) 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 who played in the scrum-half position.

Career

Cooper started playing rugby with

Pencoed Pencoed ( cy, Pen-coed) is a urbanised community and town in the county borough of Bridgend, Wales. It straddles the M4 motorway north east of Bridgend and is situated on the Ewenny River. At the 2011 census it had a population of around 9,166. ...

before moving to Bath in the West Country. Cooper made his international debut in 2001 against Italy, when many were claiming him to be the successor to Rob Howley. He toured to Japan in later that year. After Howley's retirement in 2002 he was given his first run in the side in 2003, becoming first choice for the

2003 Rugby World Cup The 2003 Rugby World Cup was the fifth Rugby World Cup. Originally planned to be hosted by India, all games were shifted to Australia following a contractual dispute over ground signage rights between the Indian Rugby Union and Rugby World Cup ...

. He returned to play in Wales after that tournament with the Celtic Warriors, but he found himself scrapping with the

Scarlets The Scarlets () are one of the four professional Welsh rugby union teams and are based in Llanelli, Wales. Their home ground is the Parc y Scarlets stadium. They play in the United Rugby Championship and the European Rugby Champions Cup (which ...

Dwayne Peel Dwayne John Peel (born 31 August 1981) is a Welsh rugby union coach and former player. He was the most capped scrum-half for the Wales national rugby union team with 76 caps, until his record was surpassed by Mike Phillips on 16 March 2013. Yo ...

for the scrum half jersey during the 2004 Six Nations. He joined the

Newport Gwent Dragons Dragons RFC ( cy, Dreigiau) are one of the four professional rugby union regional teams in Wales. They are owned by the Welsh Rugby Union and play their home games at Rodney Parade, Newport and at other grounds around the region. They play in ...

in 2004 when the Celtic Warriors were disbanded, but his form went downhill and

secured the scrum half shirt with some stunning performances during Wales' Grand Slam in the 2005 Six Nations. Despite playing mostly on the bench for Wales he was selected for the British & Irish Lions tour to New Zealand, but with three other scrum halves on the tour he struggled to get game time as he was last in the pecking order behind Peel,

Matt Dawson Matthew James Sutherland Dawson, MBE (born 31 October 1972) is an English retired rugby union player who played scrum half for Northampton Saints and then London Wasps. During his international career he toured with the British & Irish Lion ...

and

Chris Cusiter Christopher Peter Cusiter (born 13 June 1982) is a retired Scottish international rugby union player who played at Scrum-half (rugby union), scrum-half. He played for teams including Glasgow Warriors, Border Reivers (rugby), Border Reivers and ...

. With the emergence of Mike Phillips he struggled to fight for his way into the Wales team as he became a distant third choice. He moved to

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 2007. He made the Wales squad for the

2007 Rugby World Cup The 2007 Rugby World Cup was the sixth Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. Twenty nations competed for the Webb Ellis Cup in the tournament, which was hosted by France from 7 September to 2 ...

but still as third choice scrum half and he played just one match as substitute against Japan. He got another chance for Wales on a tour to South Africa in 2008 when Phillips and Peel both were injured. He impressed in two matches against South Africa and kept his place ahead of Peel and the still injured Phillips for the Autumn internationals that year, including a 21–18 win over Australia. He was injured during the

2009 Six Nations The 2009 Six Nations Championship, known as the RBS 6 Nations for sponsorship reasons, was the 10th Six Nations Championship, and the 115th international championship, an annual rugby union competition contested by the six major European national ...

but returned to the Wales side for the summer tour to North America. The tour did not go well and he was replaced at half time by Peel against Canada. He left

in 2009 after losing his place to

Rory Lawson Rory Lawson (born 12 March 1981) is a Scottish former rugby union player who played his career in Scotland and England as a scrum half. He won 31 caps for Scotland. He attended Dollar Academy where he captained the school's 1st XV. After a nu ...

and moved to the

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 ...

to replace Jason Spice. He played again for Wales in the 2010 Six Nations against

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and

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 ...

but was replaced by

Richie Rees Richie Rees (born 21 May 1983) is a former Wales international professional rugby union player. He played as a scrum-half. He is now the attack coach for Cardiff Rugby. Club Rees started his rugby career at Dunvant RFC. He then played for the ...

for the remainder of the tournament.

announced on 3 November 2010 that he would be leaving the club, due to a long-standing groin injury.
Cardiff Blues news item.

References

External links

Gloucester Rugby profileNewport Gwent Dragons profileWales profileCardiff Blues news item
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cooper, Gareth 1979 births Living people Rugby union players from Bridgend Rugby union scrum-halves Wales international rugby union players Welsh rugby union players British & Irish Lions rugby union players from Wales Bath Rugby players Dragons RFC players Gloucester Rugby players Cardiff Rugby players Alumni of Cardiff Metropolitan University Sportspeople from Gloucestershire