Rhys Priestland

Rhys Priestland (born 9 January 1987) 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.

A product of the Scarlets academy, Priestland began his senior rugby career with Scarlets feeder club Carmarthen Quins, making six appearances in the 2005–06 season.

In March 2006, he signed a professional development contract with the Scarlets.

That summer, former Scarlets fly-half Stephen Jones returned to the region after two seasons in France with Clermont Auvergne, and for the 2006–07 season, Priestland served as the Scarlets' third-choice fly-half behind Jones and Ceiron Thomas.

Priestland played 150 games for them and scored over 1,000 points.

A member of the Wales under-19 squad that won the Grand Slam in the 2006 Six Nations, Priestland received his first senior call-up in January 2011 as part of a 28-man squad for the 2011 Six Nations Championship, as one of three fly-half options along with Stephen Jones and James Hook.

In the 2010–11 season against USA Perpignan, he scored a try at the end of the first half which the Scarlets won.

Priestland's good form for the Scarlets in the remainder of the 2010–11 season meant he returned to the Wales set-up for a match against the Barbarians in June 2011, coming on as a late substitute for Stephen Jones as Wales lost 31–28, before being included in a 39-man training squad ahead of the 2011 Rugby World Cup.

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.

After being an unused replacement for the 26–19 loss to England in the opening match, Priestland made his international debut on 12 February 2011, making a four-minute cameo at full-back in a 24–6 win over Scotland at Murrayfield.

He was again named on the bench for Wales' third match against Italy, but did not come on, before being left out of the squad entirely for the final two matches against Ireland and France.

In his first start for Wales, against England at Twickenham on 6 August 2011, Priestland was initially selected at full-back, but made a last-minute switch to fly-half after Stephen Jones was injured in the warm-up; Priestland kicked two conversions in a 23–19 loss.

He again started at fly-half in the return match at the Millennium Stadium on 13 August, scoring two penalties before being replaced by Aled Brew at half-time; Wales won the match 19–9.

Having seemingly done enough to earn a place in Warren Gatland's World Cup squad, Priestland was left out of the final warm-up match against Argentina.

As with the 2011 Six Nations, Priestland was one of three fly-halves selected by Gatland for the World Cup, along with Jones and Hook.

With Jones still struggling with a calf injury, Priestland was named as Wales' starting fly-half for their opening match against reigning champions South Africa.

With South Africa leading by a point with 10 minutes to go, Priestland had the opportunity to win the match with a drop goal in front of the posts, but he hooked it wide.

Nevertheless, he retained the number 10 jersey for the second match against Samoa, scoring two penalties in a 17–10 win.

Jones returned to the starting XV for the match against bottom side Namibia, playing 63 minutes before Priestland took over and scored three of his five conversion attempts, but Priestland was again the starting fly-half for Wales' final pool match against Fiji; they won the match 66–0, with Priestland scoring five conversions and a penalty before being replaced by Jones for the final 20 minutes.

Having seemingly won the fly-half battle, Priestland again started against Ireland in the quarter-finals, converting two of Wales' three tries in a 22–10 win, only to suffer a shoulder injury in the last two minutes that meant he missed the semi-final against France.

Wales lost the match 9–8 and ultimately finished the tournament in fourth place, after losing to 21–18 to Australia in the third-place play-off.

Priestland returned to fitness in time to play in Wales' friendly match against Australia on 3 December 2011, starting ahead of Ospreys fly-half Dan Biggar.

In addition to scoring two penalties, Priestland also crossed for his first international try as Wales lost 24–18.

For the 2012 Six Nations Championship, Gatland selected Priestland and Hook as his two fly-half options, with Priestland starting all five matches, despite entering the tournament with lingering knee injuries.

In the third match against England, he received the first yellow card of his international career.

Full-back Leigh Halfpenny was given the goal-kicking duties during the tournament, so Priestland scored just three points: a penalty against Italy in the fourth match.

Wales won all five of their matches in the 2012 Six Nations, claiming their third Grand Slam title in eight seasons.

However, following the Six Nations success, Wales suffered a 3–0 test series defeat to Australia on their summer tour and then failed to win any of their Autumn internationals; Priestland played in all seven of those matches, starting six of them and suffered a loss of confidence that saw him leave social media and start seeing a sports psychologist.

In addition, he suffered a torn Achilles tendon in a match for the Scarlets in early December 2012, ruling him out of Wales' Six Nations title defence in 2013.

After returning to the bench for the Scarlets at the end of the season, Priestland was named in the squad for Wales' summer tour of Japan; however, a recurrence of the injury meant he had to withdraw from the tour.

He finally made his return to international rugby in November 2013, starting at fly-half in Wales' opening match of the 2013 Autumn internationals against South Africa; he played the entire match, but Wales lost 24–15.

Priestland then missed the next game against Argentina, before making substitute appearances against both Tonga and Australia.

In January 2015, it was announced that Priestland would join English club Bath on a two-year contract at the end of the 2014–15 season.

He ended up playing for Bath for six seasons before returning to Wales for the 2021–22 season, signing a long-term contract with the Cardiff Blues (later renamed Cardiff Rugby).

He made his debut in Cardiff's 2021–22 United Rugby Championship season opener against Connacht on 24 September 2021, but had to be substituted in the first two minutes after being hit in the head by the knee of Connacht prop Finlay Bealham.

He recovered from the injury in time to start the match against the Ospreys on 2 October; he played the full match and scored two conversions, but Cardiff lost the match 18–14.

He scored 14 of Cardiff's 19 points the following week against the Bulls, but it was not enough to prevent a 29–19 defeat, and followed it up with another 13 points in a 23–17 win over the Sharks on 16 October.