 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Birth name | Eli Walker | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | 28 March 1992 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Swansea, Wales | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 89 kg (14 st 0 lb) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| School | Penyrheol Comprehensive School Gower College Swansea Cardiff University | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Eli Walker (born 28 March 1992) is a Welsh retired international rugby union player who played for the Ospreys as a winger. He previously played for Swansea.
Walker first broke into the Ospreys team during the 2011–12 Pro12 season, starting seven matches as they won the title.
For the 2012–13 Pro12 season, Walker started to play in the Ospreys first team, winning a place in the starting line up. He started the season in good form, scoring a try in a man of the match performance against Connacht, [1] and followed it with another try the next week against Leinster. [1]
His domestic form carried into the 2012–13 Heineken Cup, once again scoring a try and earning a man of the match award, this time against European powerhouse Toulouse. [2]
Walker suffered a foot injury during the Ospreys Anglo-Welsh Cup clash against Cardiff Blues on 18 November 2016. He began his recovery, but suffered a back injury in December. [3] Despite surgery and over a year of rehabilitation, Walker announced his retirement due to this injury in March 2018. [4]
In April 2012 he was named in the Wales U-20 squad for the Junior World Cup in South Africa. [5] He started on the wing as Wales beat New Zealand, a first ever win for Wales at the Under 20s level against the Baby Blacks. [6]
Off the back of his form for the Ospreys, Walker was selected in the 35 man Wales squad for the 2013 Six Nations. [7] He did not feature during the tournament, suffering a hamstring injury before the tournament. [8]
A back injury near the end of the 2012–13 season ruled Walker out of the summer tour to Japan. [9]
For the 2013 Autumn Internationals, Walker was once again selected in the Wales squad, and named to start against South Africa. Walker suffered a hamstring injury in training and was ruled out prior to making his debut. [10]
Walker made his full international debut in the starting line up for Wales versus Ireland on 8 August 2015. [11] On 8 September 2015, Walker was chosen as a replacement for Leigh Halfpenny in the 2015 Rugby World Cup squad after Halfpenny suffered a knee injury in a warm up match against Italy. [12] However Walker himself then had to withdraw with a hamstring injury and he was replaced by Ross Moriarty. [13]
On 11 October, Liam Williams was ruled out of the World Cup having suffered an injury against Australia, and Walker re-joined the squad to replace him. He was allowed to re-join the squad, as he had been released from the team before Wales officially arrived in tournament. Walker's injury meant he would not be fit to play against South Africa, and could only represent Wales if they made it to the semi-final. [14] Wales were knocked out in the quarter-finals, and therefore Walker did not feature further.
The Ospreys, formerly the Neath–Swansea Ospreys is one of the four professional rugby union teams from Wales. They compete in the United Rugby Championship and the European Rugby Champions Cup. The team formed as a result of Neath RFC and Swansea RFC combining to create a new merged entity, as part of the new regional structure of Welsh rugby, that began in 2003. They are also affiliated with a number of local semi-professional and amateur clubs, including Welsh Premier Division sides Aberavon RFC, Bridgend Ravens, and original founding clubs Neath and Swansea. The regional area represented by the team has widely become known for rugby purposes as 'Ospreylia'.
The United Rugby Championship (URC) is an annual rugby union competition involving professional teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa, and Wales. For sponsorship reasons the league is known as the Vodacom United Rugby Championship in South Africa, and the BKT United Rugby Championship in the competition's other territories, the split branding mirroring the format previously adopted in Super Rugby. The Championship represents the highest level of domestic club or franchise rugby in each of its constituent countries. The Championship is one of the three major professional leagues in Europe, the most successful teams from which go forward to compete in the highest-level continental club competitions, the European Rugby Champions Cup and Challenge Cup. Since 2022–23, despite the name, South African teams have been eligible to qualify for European competitions, and one South African place in the Champions Cup from the Championship is guaranteed.
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. The club was originally named the Llanelli Scarlets but was renamed at the start of the 2008–09 rugby season.
Gavin Michael Thomas is a Welsh former international rugby union player who played as a flanker. He played his club rugby for Tondu, Bridgend, Bath, the Ospreys, the Scarlets and the Newport Gwent Dragons, and was capped 24 times for Wales.
Alun Wyn Jones is a Welsh international rugby union player who plays as a lock for Toulon and formerly for the Wales international team. He is the world's most-capped rugby union player, with 158 caps for Wales and 12 for the British & Irish Lions, and also holds the records for the most Wales caps and the second most Wales caps as captain. He retired from international rugby in 2023.
Kenneth James Owens is a Welsh rugby union player who plays as a hooker for the Scarlets and Wales. He made his debut for the Scarlets in 2006, taking over from Matthew Rees as their first-choice hooker upon Rees' departure for the Cardiff Blues in 2013. He also served as backup to Rees, among others, for Wales following his debut against Namibia at the 2011 Rugby World Cup. In 2016, he took over as Wales' first-choice hooker, and in January 2023, following almost a year out with a back injury, he was named as captain for the 2023 Six Nations Championship.
Donnacha Ryan is an Irish former rugby union player and current coach. Ryan spent most of his career representing his native province Munster, spending 13 seasons at the club, before moving to French club Racing 92 in 2017, where he spent the final four seasons of his playing career before retiring and joining the coaching team at La Rochelle ahead of the 2021–22 season. He played primarily as a lock, but could also play as a flanker.
Rhys Priestland is a Welsh international rugby union player who plays as a fly-half for Cardiff Rugby and the Wales national team. Although he primarily plays as a fly-half, he is also capable of playing at full-back. Born in Llangathen, Carmarthenshire, he began his career with Llanelli RFC before progressing to the Scarlets regional side. After eight years with the Scarlets, he moved to England to play for Bath in the English Premiership, where he spent six seasons before returning to Wales with Cardiff Rugby. He made his Wales debut in 2011, and earned 50 caps – including being named in the squad for the 2011 and 2015 Rugby World Cups – before his move to England made him ineligible for selection.
Rhys Webb is a Welsh rugby union player who plays as a scrum-half for Ospreys. Born in Bridgend, he is a product of the Ospreys academy and played club rugby for Bridgend RFC and Aberavon RFC before breaking into the regional side in 2008. He played for the Ospreys for 10 years before moving to French club Toulon in 2018, but terminated his contract with them in 2020 and agreed a return to the Ospreys; however, he was unable to join the Ospreys immediately and signed for Bath for the remainder of the 2019–20 season before returning to the Ospreys.
Stephen Leigh Halfpenny is a Welsh rugby union player who plays as a fullback or wing for the Scarlets, Wales and the British & Irish Lions. Halfpenny is the third highest points scorer for Wales after Neil Jenkins and Stephen Jones.
Daniel Biggar is a Welsh rugby union player currently playing for French Top 14 side Toulon as a fly-half. A Wales international, Biggar has also twice been selected to tour with the British and Irish Lions.
Samson Lee is a Wales international rugby union player currently playing for the Scarlets having previously played for Llanelli and Ammanford. His position is prop forward. Lee has represented Wales, making his debut against Argentina in November 2013.
Jordan Rhys Williams is a Welsh rugby union footballer who plays for the Dragons. His regular position is at full-back, but he has also played at fly-half and on the wing. He began his career with amateur side New Dock Stars RFC, before being signed by Llanelli RFC and ultimately breaking into the Scarlets regional side. However, he struggled to find playing time with the Scarlets and moved to Bristol in 2016, only to return to Wales with the Dragons two years later. He has also played internationally for Wales at under-16, under-18 and under-20 level, as well as for the Wales Sevens team.
Ashley Beck is a Wales international rugby union player. Beck currently played for Merthyr RFC, and has previously played for Worcester Warriors and the Ospreys. He has represented Wales and Wales U20. He is the current attack coach of Premiership Women's Rugby side Worcester Warriors Women.
David Kilcoyne is an Irish rugby union player who plays as a prop for United Rugby Championship club Munster and the Ireland national team.
Rynier Mark Bernardo is a South African rugby union player who currently plays as a lock for the Free State Cheetahs in the South African Currie Cup.
Ross Moriarty is an international rugby union player, who currently plays for Brive. Moriarty has represented Wales and England U20.
Cory Allen is a retired Welsh international rugby union player. A centre or wing, he played for Cardiff Blues and the Ospreys. Allen joined the Dragons in 2021, but did not feature for the side.
Dan Baker is a Wales international rugby union player. A back row forward, he plays for Ystradgynlais RFC having previously played for the Dragons, Stade Montois, Ospreys amd Aberavon RFC
The 2015 Rugby World Cup was an international rugby union tournament held in England and Wales from 18 September until 31 October 2015. 20 national teams competed, each bringing a squad of 31 players to the tournament. Each team had to submit their squad to World Rugby by 31 August 2015. A player could be replaced for medical or compassionate reasons, but would be unable to return to the squad. Any replacement players had an enforced stand-down period of 48 hours before they could take the field.
