Lenny Woodard (born 2 April 1976) is a professional

rugby football Rugby football is the collective name for the team sports of rugby union and rugby league. Canadian football and, to a lesser extent, American football were once considered forms of rugby football, but are seldom now referred to as such. The ...

er who played

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 ...

for

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 ...

as a

wing A wing is a type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid. Accordingly, wings have streamlined cross-sections that are subject to aerodynamic forces and act as airfoils. A wing's aerodynamic efficiency is expres ...

, and

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

for

.Graham Williams, Peter Lush, David Farrar (November 2009). "The British Rugby League Records Book age-108…114. London League Publications Ltd.

Background

Woodard was born in

Pontypool Pontypool ( cy, Pont-y-pŵl ) is a town and the administrative centre of the county borough of Torfaen, within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire in South Wales. It has a population of 28,970. Location It is situated on the Afon Lwyd ri ...

, Gwent, Wales. He went to Greenlawn Junior school where he first played rugby. He received player of the year and was top scorer scoring a hat-trick in county schools cup final at Rodney Parade. He also represented Pontypool Schools in the DC Thomas Cup final at Bridgend. He represented Gwent schools as well. He attended West Mon comprehensive school and was captain of his very successful year team and was captain of the 1st XV when they beat Millfield School. He left school with 7 As and 2 Bs from his GCSEs and attended Pontypool College gaining all As in his A-Level grades . He went on to study Human Movement studies at UWIC and went back in 2003 to gain a PGCE in Secondary Education. Whilst at UWIC he was selected for Wales under-21 for the 5 nations campaign in 1996, Wales Students rugby league v England and Great Britain students rugby league tour and test match v France, scoring a try in the test match in a narrow 10-4 win He is also a WRU Level 3 coach

International honours

Woodard represented

(RU) during the 1998 tour of Zimbabwe and South Africa in non-

Test match Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to: * Test cricket * Test match (indoor cricket) * Test match (rugby union) * Test match (rugby league) * Test match (association football) ...

es, and won

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. Caps typically have a visor, or no brim at all. They are popular in casual and informal se ...

s for

(RL) while at Pontypridd RFC (RU), and Bridgend Blue Bulls (RL) 1999...2005 (4?)3-caps + 2-caps ( interchange/ substitute) 3-tries 12-points. He scored a hatrick of tries for Wales v Russia in 2003. Woodard also played international touch rugby for Wales in the European Cup, scoring the winning try v Scotland. Woodard also gained international honours in hockey for Wales at U15, U16 and U18 level. Woodard represented Wales and went onto represent Great Britain Students in rugby league. He played for Swinton Lions and Hull Sharks in the late 1990s and Celtic Crusaders in 2006 season.

Career records

On Friday 2 May 2003, Woodard scored a club record 7-tries for

in a 90–3 victory over

Treorchy RFC Treorchy Rugby Football Club is a rugby union team from the village of Treorchy, in the Rhondda Valley, Wales. They formed in 1886 and by 1891 were a strong voice in the Welsh Football Union and were playing in the Rhondda Division. Club history ...

. He scored three more tries against

Aberavon RFC Aberavon RFC ( cy, Clwb Rygbi Aberafan) is a rugby union club located in the Welsh town of Port Talbot, though the club's name refers to the older settlement of Aberavon which lies on the western side of the town. The club was founded in 1876 ...

in the following game to reach a season tally of 44 tries (39 league tries and five in the Principality Cup) and earned the accolade of having Pontypool's best try aggregate since

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, surpassing the 39-tries scored by David Bishop in the 1983–84 season, but less than the 55-tries scored by wing

Tom Robbins Thomas Eugene Robbins (born July 22, 1932) is a best-selling and prolific American novelist. His most notable works are "seriocomedies" (also known as "comedy drama"), such as ''Even Cowgirls Get the Blues''. Tom Robbins has lived in La Conner, ...

in the 1913–14 season. In October 2009, Woodard scored two tries for

Newbridge RFC Newbridge RFC is a Welsh Rugby Union club based in Newbridge, Caerphilly in South Wales. Newbridge RFC was formed in 1888 and joined the WRU in 1911. They play in the WRU Specsavers Division 1 East Club history Newbridge RFC established in ...

in the 37–31 league win at

Rumney RFC Rumney Rugby Football Club is a Welsh rugby union based in Rumney, Wales. Rumney RFC presently compete in the Welsh Rugby Union Division One East league. Rumney were promoted to the Division One East league after finishing second in the Divisio ...

to take him to 150 career tries. He is the highest try scorer in Welsh league history, amassing 186 league tries. He also scored 16 tries in England (15 for London Welsh and 1 for Pertemps Bees (Birmingham and Solihull). This combined effort saw over 200 league tries and he was also a prolific scorer in cup rugby.

References

External links

*(archived by web.archive.org
Profile at ponty.net
*(archived by web.archive.org

*(archived by web.archive.org
Profile at crusadersrfl.comStatistics at eurosport.co.ukLennie Woodard breaks Pontypool's try record
*(archived by web.archive.org
Lennie Woodard : It’s a funny old game!!
{{DEFAULTSORT:Woodard, Leonard 1976 births Living people Aberavon RFC players Birmingham & Solihull R.F.C. players Bridgend Blue Bulls players Bridgend RFC players Cardiff Metropolitan University RFC players Cross Keys RFC players Crusaders Rugby League players Dual-code rugby internationals Ebbw Vale RFC players Footballers who switched code Glamorgan Wanderers RFC players London Welsh RFC players Maesteg RFC players Newbridge RFC players Pontypool RFC players Pontypridd RFC players Rugby league players from Cwmbran Rugby league wingers Rugby union players from Cwmbran Rugby union wings Wales international rugby union players Wales national rugby league team players Welsh rugby league players Welsh rugby union players