James Edward Ringer (born 18 January 1976) is a retired

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

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. He is currently the defensive coach for Merthyr RFC and Sales Director for Cornerstone Commercial Finance.

Domestic career

A flanker, capable of playing both blind and open-side, he started playing in the Welsh premiership for Cardiff RFC at the age of 19. Ringer moved to

Bridgend RFC Bridgend Ravens ( cy, Cigfrain Pen-y-bont) (formerly Bridgend RFC) are a semi-professional rugby union club based in Bridgend, South Wales. They currently play in the Welsh Premier Division and are a feeder club to the Ospreys regional team ...

in 1999 before joining

Neath RFC Neath Rugby Football Club ( cy, Clwb Rygbi Castell-Nedd) is a Welsh rugby union club which plays in the WRU Championship. The club's home ground is The Gnoll, Neath. The team is known as the All Blacks because of the team colours: black with onl ...

in 2002. Ringer's time at Neath was short as he joined Newport Gwent Dragons in 2003. During his time with the region he gained over 100 caps and scored 7 tries. In May 2009 he rejoined Cardiff RFC as a player-coach. He continued playing semi professionally until retiring in 2013, aged 37.

International career

Ringer earned youth caps for Wales U18s, U19s and U21s. He also won caps for Wales 'A' and Wales 7s. Full international caps were hard to come by due to the prevalence of Welsh flankers at the time, including captain

Martyn Williams Martyn Elwyn Williams, (born 1 September 1975) is a former Wales and British & Irish Lions international rugby union player. A flanker, he was Wales' most-capped forward with 100 caps until surpassed by Gethin Jenkins on 30 November 2013. He ...

. Ringer's only chance came on the 2001 summer tour to Japan. The

British & Irish Lions The British & Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for the national teams of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. The Lions are a test side and most often select players who have already played for their national ...

were on tour in Australia at the time and several key Wales players, including Martyn Williams, were unavailable. Ringer played twice against Japan. On debut Ringer won an assist by passing to Jamie Robinson before he scored. Wales won both tests of the tour.

Family

Ringer is the son of Welsh international rugby union flanker Paul Ringer. And brother of rugby union

prop A prop, formally known as (theatrical) property, is an object used on stage or screen by actors during a performance or screen production. In practical terms, a prop is considered to be anything movable or portable on a stage or a set, distinc ...

, Joel Bennett Ringer.

References

External links

Newport Gwent Dragons profile
1976 births Living people Bridgend RFC players Cardiff RFC players Dragons RFC players Neath RFC players Penarth RFC players People educated at St Cyres Comprehensive School Rugby union flankers Rugby union players from Cardiff Wales international rugby union players Welsh rugby union players {{Wales-rugbyunion-bio-stub