Shaun Edwards

His father, Jackie Edwards, played for Warrington (Heritage No. 566) from 1955 to 1964, as, or , until a severe spinal injury ended his career prematurely at age 24.

His uncle Bobby Edwards played one match for Warrington (Heritage No. 620) in the halves against New Zealand at Wilderspool Stadium on Saturday 23 September 1961.

Edwards was England schoolboy captain at both rugby league and rugby union, and had been pursued by several clubs.

Shaun Edwards, OBE (born 17 October 1966) is an English rugby union coach and former rugby league player, who is the defence coach for the France national team.

A or, Edwards is the most decorated player in rugby league history, with 37 winner's medals.

He played for Wigan in the Championship and Super League between 1983 and 1997, and also had spells with Balmain Tigers, London Broncos (twice) and Bradford Bulls.

Playing for Wigan, Edwards won a record eight championships, and a record nine Challenge Cups.

In total he played in eleven Challenge Cup finals, also a record.

He made his début for the club at in their 30–13 home victory over York on 6 November 1983, 20 days after signing for Wigan.

Later in the season Wigan reached the final of the 1984 Challenge Cup, and Edwards played at fullback in their loss to Widnes.

In the 1984–85 season Wigan reached the 1985 Challenge Cup Final and Edwards played at, scoring a try in his side's victory.

Edwards played in Wigan's 1987 World Club Challenge victory over Sydney's Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles.

He was selected to go on the 1988 Great Britain Lions tour.

Edwards played for Sydney club the Balmain Tigers when they reached the 1989 NSWRL season's grand final, for which he was selected on the interchange bench.

He was voted Man of Steel in 1990 and is an inductee of the Wigan Hall of Fame.

In 1990, Edwards received the Man of Steel Award after he played most of the Challenge Cup Final against Warrington with a broken cheekbone and eye socket, after receiving a high, off the ball tackle in the 10th minute.

He refused to be substituted and played on to set up three of Wigan's tries.

Despite his performance, the Man Of The Match award went to his half back partner Andy Gregory.

He played in Wigan's 1991 World Club Challenge victory over Sydney's Penrith Panthers.

Edwards finished the 1991–92 season as the league's leading try scorer with a total of 40.

Edwards was then selected to go on the 1992 Great Britain Lions tour of Australia and New Zealand.

He matched Wigan's record for most tries in a single match (10) in the 78–0 rout of Swinton in the Lancashire County Cup 2nd round in September 1992.

It was a County Cup record and record for a non-winger in any game.

In addition he scored four tries in a game on four occasions and hat-tricks seven times.

During the 1992–93 season Edwards played at scrum half for defending RFL champions Wigan in the 1992 World Club Challenge against the visiting Brisbane Broncos.

He played in Wigan's 1994 World Club Challenge win over the Brisbane Broncos in Australia which attracted a World Club Challenge record attendance of 54,220, and also played in the first game of the 1996 cross-code challenge series against Bath.

Edwards played 36 times for Great Britain, as well as for England in 1995 and 1996 and Ireland in 1998.

In all, he appeared in three Rugby League World Cups.

After retiring from playing he joined London Wasps in rugby union as assistant coach in 2001, and was head coach from 2005 to 2011.

During his time at the club they won two Heineken Cups, four Premiership titles, an Anglo-Welsh trophy and the European Challenge Cup.

His younger brother, Billy-Joe, also played rugby league for Wigan until his death, in a car crash, in 2003.

His son James was an academy player at Wasps and played at scrum-half.

Edwards is a Roman Catholic, and his uncle, Fr John Johnson, is the sub-dean of Wigan and the parish priest of St John's and St Mary's churches in the town.

Edwards signed for Wigan in a blaze of media coverage on his seventeenth birthday; for a fee of £35,000, the largest in history for a schoolboy player.

In 2008 he became Wales' defence coach, and has won four Six Nations championships, including three Grand Slams.

He was also defence coach for the British & Irish Lions on their tour of South Africa in 2009.

In 2015 he was the 25th person inducted into the Rugby League Hall of Fame.

At schoolboy level, he captained England in both rugby league and rugby union.

He joined France in 2020 and won the Grand Slam in 2022.

Edwards was born in Wigan, Lancashire, England.