Kieran Richard Hardy (born 30 November 1995) is a Welsh professional

rugby union player 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 ...

who primarily plays scrum-half for 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 ...

of the

United Rugby Championship The United Rugby Championship (URC) is an annual rugby union competition involving professional teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa, and Wales. The current name was adopted in 2021 when the league expanded to include four South Afr ...

. He has also represented

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 ...

at international level, having made his test debut against

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

during the

Autumn Nations Cup The Autumn Nations Cup was a rugby union competition held in November and December 2020 in place of the usual Autumn internationals series typically held in the same period each year, as many teams were avoiding extended travel due to the COVID- ...

. Hardy has previously played for clubs such as the

Jersey Reds Jersey Reds is a rugby club based in Jersey, Channel Islands that currently competes at the RFU Championship, which is the second tier of English professional rugby. Until season 2022/23, the professional arm of Jersey Reds was part of Jers ...

in the past.

Club career

Hardy first played for local side

Pontyberem RFC Pontyberem Rugby Football Club is a Welsh rugby union team based in Pontyberem, Carmarthenshire. The club is a member of the Welsh Rugby Union and is a feeder club for the Llanelli Scarlets The Scarlets () are one of the four professional Wel ...

until the age of 16. He began his professional career with Carmarthen Quins, while progressing through the age grade ranks with the

. Despite making his professional debut with the Scarlets in 2014, he departed the club in 2016 in order to gain experience and game time, as it was limited with competition in the scrum half jersey. Hardy subsequently joined

RFU Championship The RFU Championship is an English rugby union competition comprising twelve clubs. It is the second level of men’s English rugby and is played by both professional and semi-professional players. The competition has existed since 1987, when ...

club

, along with Scarlet teammate

Regan King Regan Matthew King (born 2 October 1980) is a New Zealand rugby union player who plays as a centre. He currently plays for Mid Canterbury in the Heartland Championship and Neath RFC in the Welsh Premier Division. He holds a British passport than ...

. In his first season with Jersey, Hardy helped the club reach the final of the

British and Irish Cup The British and Irish Cup was an annual rugby union competition for second tier, semi-professional clubs and the reserves or developing teams from professional clubs from Great Britain and Ireland. It took place for the first time in the 2009 ...

. Jersey lost to Munster A 29–28, despite Hardy scoring a try in the fixture. Hardy extended his contract for one more season, in 2017. In 2018 Hardy was voted Player of the Season, before departing Jersey. Hardy rejoined the Scarlets ahead of the

2018–19 Pro14 The 2018–19 Pro14 (also known as the '' Guinness Pro14'' for sponsorship reasons) is the eighteenth season of the professional rugby union competition originally known as the Celtic League. It was the second season to be referred to as the ''Pr ...

season, following the departure of Aled Davies. Hardy was voted Breakthrough Player of the Season in his first term back in Llanelli, scoring seven tries in 18 matches. He was voted Player of the Month for October 2019, scoring multiple impactful tries early in the season.

International career

In 2015, Hardy was selected for Wales U20, featuring in the

2015 Six Nations Under 20s Championship The 2015 Six Nations Under 20s Championship was a rugby union competition held between February and March 2015. England won the championship. However, no team won either a Grand Slam or the Triple Crown. Final table Results Round 1 Round 2 ...

and

2015 World Rugby Under 20 Championship The 2015 World Rugby Under 20 Championship was the eighth annual international rugby union competition for Under 20 national teams. The event was organised for the second time in Italy by rugby's governing body, World Rugby. Twelve nations played i ...

. On 6 October 2020 Hardy was named in the senior

squad for the 2020

. He made his debut for Wales on the 18 November 2020 in the starting line up for the 18-0 win against Georgia. His halfback partner for the fixture was

Callum Sheedy Callum Michael Sheedy (born 28 October 1995) is a professional rugby union player for Bristol Bears in Premiership Rugby and for the Wales national rugby union team. His usual position is fly-half. Club career Sheedy has previously played on lo ...

, who played alongside Hardy for Jersey in 2017 while on loan from

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

. Hardy scored his first international try on 5 December 2020, against Italy. Hardy retained his place in the Welsh squad for the

2021 Six Nations The 2021 Six Nations Championship (known as the Guinness Six Nations for sponsorship reasons) was the 22nd Six Nations Championship, the annual rugby union competition contested by the national teams of England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland, ...

. He made his first Six Nations appearance on 13 February 2021, coming off the bench against Scotland. Hardy was selected to start the following match against England, and scored a try as Wales won 40–24, securing the

Triple Crown Triple Crown may refer to: Sports Horse racing * Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing * Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing (United States) ** Triple Crown Trophy ** Triple Crown Productions * Canadian Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing * Trip ...

. After suffering a hamstring injury during the match, Hardy was subsequently ruled out of the remainder of the tournament, as Wales won the championship title. Upon returning to fitness, Hardy was once against selected for the Wales squad for the summer tests against Canada and Argentina. Hardy featured in the

2021 end-of-year rugby union internationals The 2021 end of year rugby union tests, also referred to as the Autumn internationals in the Northern Hemisphere, were rugby union test matches during October and November 2021, mainly involving countries from the Northern Hemisphere hosting those f ...

, and scored his third test try during the match against Fiji. During the 2022 Six Nations, Hardy once again scored against England, appearing three times off the bench during the tournament. That summer he was selected for the

2022 Wales rugby union tour of South Africa The Wales national rugby union team toured South Africa in July 2022 for a series of three test matches against the South Africa national team. It was the seventh time Wales had toured South Africa in test history. In each of the previous 10 matc ...

, and started all three tests. During the tour, Wales won the second test 13–12, securing a first ever win over the Springboks in South Africa. Hardy was selected for the

2022 end-of-year rugby union internationals The 2022 end of year rugby union tests, also known as the 2022 Autumn internationals, were a number of rugby union test matches played during the months of October and November. Some of the games were known as the Autumn Nations Series for marketin ...

, coming off the bench against New Zealand and Australia. Hardy retained his place in the squad for the

2023 Six Nations The 2023 Six Nations Championship (known as the Guinness Six Nations for sponsorship reasons) was the 24th Six Nations Championship, an annual rugby union competition contested by the national teams of England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland ...

, having been selected by returning head coach

Warren Gatland Warren David Gatland (born 17 September 1963) is a New Zealand rugby union coach and former player who is currently in his second spell as the head coach of the Wales national team. As head coach of Wales from 2007 to 2019, he won four Six N ...

List of international test tries

References

External links

WRU profile

Scarlets profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hardy, Kieran Welsh rugby union players Wales international rugby union players Rugby union players from Carmarthen Scarlets players Living people 1995 births Jersey Reds players Rugby union scrum-halves