Neil
Jenkins

Neil Jenkins is a prolific point scorer and a giant of Welsh rugby. Discover everything about his life and career with RugbyPass, your resident rugby gurus.

Neil Jenkins Bio

Neil Jenkins was the first player to ever score 1,000 points in international matches. Today, he’s a respected coach who remains Wales’ highest ever points scorer.

For much of his domestic career, Neil Jenkins represented Pontypridd. Between 1990-99 and 2002-03, he scored more than 3,000 points for the side in 237 appearances. In addition to this, he also enjoyed spells at Cardiff (1999-2002) and the Celtic Warriors (2003-04). In total, throughout his domestic career, he scored more than 4,000 points. As a result, he’s widely regarded as one of the most accomplished kickers to ever play the game.

Unsurprisingly due to his skill and prowess at the domestic level, Neil Jenkins was a superstar for Wales. In his 87 appearances for the national side, he scored 1,049 points and claimed a number of records. For a time, he was the leading rugby union test point scorer in history and the leading point scorer for Wales. To this day, he still holds the second of these accolades. In the game where he scored his 1,000th point, he also achieved a ‘full house’, scoring a try, conversion, drop-goal, and penalty in the same game.

Thanks in no small part to his near metronomic performances with the boot for Wales, Neil Jenkins also toured with the British and Irish Lions in 1997 and 2001. He played in all three tests of the 1997 tour as the Lions beat South Africa, but only featured once in 2001 because he was carrying an injury. In 2004, Neil Jenkins retired from rugby. Since, he’s been a coach for Wales and the British and Irish Lions.