Tavis Knoyle (born 2 June 1990 in

Pontneddfechan Pontneddfechan, also known as Pontneathvaughan (pronounced ) ("bridge over the Little Neath" in Welsh) is the southernmost village in the county of Brecknockshire, Wales, within the Vale of Neath, in the community of Ystradfellte and in the prin ...

Vale of Neath The Vale of Neath (or Neath Valley, Welsh: ''Cwm Nedd''), one of the South Wales Valleys, encompasses the upper reaches of the River Neath in southwest Wales. In addition to the River Neath, it is traversed by the Neath Canal and the A465 dual ...

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 ...

) is a

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 ...

footballer who plays at scrum-half. He is a fluent

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

speaker.

Club career

After a youth career at home town club

Glynneath RFC Glynneath RFC are a Welsh Rugby Union club playing in WRU Division 1 West Central of the WRU National Leagues. The Club has won a number of honours over the years, including the locally famous Invincibles of the 1961–62 season captained by Bas ...

, he made his senior debut at

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 ...

, and made his

Celtic League The Celtic League is a pan-Celtic organisation, founded in 1961, that aims to promote modern Celtic identity and culture in Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Brittany, Cornwall and the Isle of Man – referred to as the Celtic nations; it places part ...

debut with

Ospreys The osprey (''Pandion haliaetus''), , also called sea hawk, river hawk, and fish hawk, is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey with a cosmopolitan range. It is a large raptor reaching more than in length and across the wings. It is brown o ...

in April 2009. After impressing with Wales Under 20 squad, he joined 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 ...

at the start of the 2009/10 campaign, scoring his first try for the Scarlets in a victory over Ulster, and was awarded the Magners League Man of the Match. On 16 May 2013, Knoyle signed to join English side

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 the

Aviva Premiership Premiership Rugby, officially known as Gallagher Premiership Rugby, or the Gallagher Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is an English professional rugby union competition. The Premiership has consisted of thirteen clubs since 2021, and is the ...

on a two-year contract, joining former Scarlets coach Nigel Davies who had been appointed Director of Rugby at the

Kingsholm Stadium Kingsholm Stadium is a rugby union stadium located in the Kingsholm area of Gloucester, England, and is the home stadium of Gloucester Rugby. The stadium has a capacity of 16,115. It is sometimes nicknamed 'Castle Grim', after the estate where ...

in June 2012. On 5 February 2014, he signed an agreement to join

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 ...

. Knoyle was loaned out to

Pontypridd RFC Pontypridd Rugby Football Club ( cy, Clwb Rygbi Pontypridd) are a rugby union team from Pontypridd, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. They compete in the Indigo Group Premiership, which they won for four consecutive seasons between 2012 and 2015, and ...

8 months later and made his debut for the club on 11 October 2014 against London Scottish in 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 ...

. Knoyle played his final game for the valleys team against

Connacht Eagles Connacht Rugby ( ga, Rugbaí Connachta) is one of the four professional provincial rugby teams from the island of Ireland. Connacht competes in the United Rugby Championship and the European Rugby Champions Cup. The team represents the IRFU Conn ...

on 6 December 2014, before making his return to his parent regional side. On 16 October 2016, Knoyle signed for Welsh region

Dragons A dragon is a reptilian legendary creature that appears in the folklore of many cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depicted as ...

from the 2016–17 season. In doing so he would become only the third player to play for all four professional Welsh rugby regions. Knoyle departed the Dragons during the 2021–22 season, joining

Merthyr RFC Merthyr Tydfil (; cy, Merthyr Tudful ) is the main town in Merthyr Tydfil County Borough, Wales, administered by Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council. It is about north of Cardiff. Often called just Merthyr, it is said to be named after Tydf ...

soon after.

International career

Having played for Wales at Under 16 and Under 18 levels, under the tutelage of Phil Davies he won four Wales Under 20 caps in 2009. Knoyle was named in the squad for the

2010 Wales rugby union tour of New Zealand In June 2010 Wales national rugby union team, Wales toured New Zealand national rugby union team, New Zealand in a two-test series. First in Carisbrook, Dunedin, then in Waikato Stadium, Hamilton. Before the series, New Zealand sat first in the Wo ...

, making his debut against New Zealand in

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...

on 20 June 2010 as a second-half replacement. Knoyle was named in the Welsh squad for the

2011 Six Nations Championship The 2011 Six Nations Championship, known as the 2011 RBS 6 Nations due to sponsorship by the Royal Bank of Scotland, was the 12th series of the Six Nations Championship, and the 117th edition of the international championship. The annual rugby uni ...

, winning his second cap in the clash with Scotland at

Murrayfield Murrayfield is an affluent area to the west of Edinburgh city centre in Scotland. It is to the east of Corstorphine and north of Balgreen and Roseburn. The A8 road runs east–west through the south of the area. Murrayfield is often conside ...

, replacing Mike Phillips in the 76th minute. Knoyle was selected in the Wales squad for the

2011 Rugby World Cup The 2011 Rugby World Cup was the seventh Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. The International Rugby Board (IRB) selected New Zealand as the host country in preference to Japan and South Af ...

, starting the pool match against

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

. A shoulder injury ruled Knoyle of the

2012 Six Nations The 2012 Six Nations Championship, known as the 2012 RBS 6 Nations due to the tournament's sponsorship by the Royal Bank of Scotland, was the 13th series of the Six Nations Championship. The annual northern hemisphere rugby union championship was ...

, but he returned to the squad for the

2012 end-of-year rugby union internationals 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit (measurement), unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment ...

, and named to start against

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

, displacing veteran scrum half Mike Phillips. While selected in the squad for the

2013 Six Nations The 2013 Six Nations Championship, known as the 2013 RBS 6 Nations because of the tournament's sponsorship by the Royal Bank of Scotland, was the 14th series of the Six Nations Championship, the annual northern hemisphere rugby union championsh ...

, Knoyle did not feature in any test. His final involvement with the Wales squad came during the

2013 Wales rugby union tour of Japan In June 2013, Wales national rugby union team, Wales toured Japan as part of the 2013 mid-year rugby test series. They faced Japan national rugby union team, Japan in a two-test series on 8 and 15 June, playing in the oldest dedicated rugby union ...

, coming off the bench in both tests. Knoyle has also represented

Wales Sevens The Wales national rugby sevens team competes in the World Rugby Sevens Series, the Rugby World Cup Sevens and in the Commonwealth Games. Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by Engl ...

in the

World Rugby Sevens Series The World Rugby Men's Sevens Series is an annual series of international rugby sevens tournaments run by World Rugby featuring national sevens teams. Organised for the first time in the 1999–2000 season as the IRB World Sevens Series, the com ...

References

External List

WRU ProfileScarlets profileDragons profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Knoyle, Tavis 1990 births Living people Cardiff Rugby players Dragons RFC players Gloucester Rugby players Glynneath RFC players Llanelli RFC players Neath RFC players Ospreys (rugby union) players Pontypridd RFC players Rugby union players from Powys Rugby union scrum-halves Scarlets players Rugby union players from Gloucestershire Wales international rugby union players Welsh rugby union players