Iestyn Thomas (born 15 December 1976) is a former Wales 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 it ...

player. In April 2012, he retired from rugby due to injury.Iestyn Thomas retires
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Club career

A prop forward, Thomas started his rugby career with home-town club

Pontypool RFC Pontypool Rugby Football Club is a Welsh rugby union team based in the town of Pontypool, which plays in the WRU Championship (known as the SWALEC Championship for sponsorship purposes). Due to the regionalisation of Welsh rugby in 2003, Pontyp ...

, but later moved to the top division with Ebbw Vale RFC. He was

Mike Ruddock Mike Ruddock, OBE (born 5 September 1959) is a Welsh rugby union coach who is currently an interim consultant for Ospreys, having previously coached Lansdowne FC . Ruddock was the Director of Rugby at the Worcester Warriors until his resignatio ...

's choice as captain as he successfully kept Ebbw Vale in the league and had an impressive campaigns in the Parker Pen Cup. In 2002, Thomas joined

Llanelli RFC Llanelli Rugby Football Club ( cy, Clwb Rygbi Llanelli) is a Welsh rugby union club founded on 30 March 1872. The club's historic home ground was Stradey Park in Llanelli, but they moved in 2008 to the new Parc y Scarlets in adjacent Pember ...

with 11 Welsh caps to his name. He progressed to 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 ...

regional team, for whom he played in more than 200 games over a nine-year career.

International career

Thomas made his international debut for Wales on 11 November 2000 at the Millennium Stadium in

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

against

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands ( Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands ( Manono and Apolima); ...

; Wales won the match 50–6. He then came off the bench in matches against the

USA The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

and

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

. Thomas played in three matches in the 2002 Six Nations, as well as playing two Tests against the Springboks in South Africa, and against

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 ...

at the end of the year. After playing in the

2003 Six Nations Championship The 2003 Six Nations Championship was the fourth series of the rugby union Six Nations Championship, and the 109th international championship overall. The annual tournament was won by England, who completed a grand slam, and went on to win the 20 ...

, and playing in two Tests for Wales in June, Thomas was included in Wales'

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 ...

squad, where he played in three matches.

References

External links

Profile
at scarlets.co.uk
Profile
at wru.co.uk
Profile
at ercrugby.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, Iestyn 1976 births Living people Barbarian F.C. players Ebbw Vale RFC players Llanelli RFC players People educated at West Monmouth School Pontypool RFC players Rugby union players from Pontypool Rugby union props Scarlets players Wales international rugby union players Welsh rugby union players