James Edward Ringer (born 18 January 1976) is a retired

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 ...

international

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the Comparison of rugby league and rugby union, two codes of ru ...

player. He is currently the defensive coach for Merthyr RFC and Sales Director for Cornerstone Commercial Finance.

Domestic career

A flanker, capable of playing both blind and open-side, he started playing in the Welsh premiership for

Cardiff RFC Cardiff Rugby Football Club ( cy, Clwb Rygbi Caerdydd) is a rugby union club based in Cardiff, the capital city of Wales. The club was founded in 1876Parry-Jones (1989), pg 59 and played their first few matches at Sophia Gardens, shortly after ...

at the age of 19. Ringer moved to

Bridgend RFC Bridgend Ravens ( cy, Cigfrain Pen-y-bont) (formerly Bridgend RFC) are a semi-professional rugby union club based in Bridgend, South Wales. They currently play in the Welsh Premier Division and are a feeder club to the Ospreys regional team. ...

in 1999 before joining

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 on ...

in 2002. Ringer's time at Neath was short as he joined

Newport Gwent Dragons Dragons RFC ( cy, Dreigiau) are one of the four professional rugby union regional teams in Wales. They are owned by the Welsh Rugby Union and play their home games at Rodney Parade, Newport and at other grounds around the region. They play in t ...

in 2003. During his time with the region he gained over 100 caps and scored 7 tries. In May 2009 he rejoined

as a player-coach. He continued playing semi professionally until retiring in 2013, aged 37.

International career

Ringer earned youth caps for Wales U18s, U19s and U21s. He also won caps for Wales 'A' and Wales 7s. Full international caps were hard to come by due to the prevalence of Welsh flankers at the time, including captain

Martyn Williams Martyn Elwyn Williams, (born 1 September 1975) is a former Wales and British & Irish Lions international rugby union player. A flanker, he was Wales' most-capped forward with 100 caps until surpassed by Gethin Jenkins on 30 November 2013. H ...

. Ringer's only chance came on the 2001 summer tour to Japan. The

British & Irish Lions The British & Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for the national teams of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. The Lions are a test side and most often select players who have already played for their national ...

were on tour in Australia at the time and several key Wales players, including Martyn Williams, were unavailable. Ringer played twice against Japan. On debut Ringer won an assist by passing to Jamie Robinson before he scored. Wales won both tests of the tour.

Family

Ringer is the son of Welsh international rugby union flanker

Paul Ringer Paul Ringer (born 28 January 1948) is an English-born former Welsh dual-code international rugby union and professional rugby league footballer. He played representative level rugby union for Wales and at club level for Ebbw Vale RFC, Llan ...

. And brother of rugby union

prop A prop, formally known as (theatrical) property, is an object used on stage or screen by actors during a performance or screen production. In practical terms, a prop is considered to be anything movable or portable on a stage or a set, distinct ...

Joel Bennett Ringer Joel Bennett Ringer (born 2 November 1996) is a Welsh professional rugby union player. Ringer currently plays rugby union for RGC 1404 after joining from Rugby Club Vannes in May 2018. He is the son of former Wales dual-code rugby internation ...

References

External links

Newport Gwent Dragons profile
1976 births Living people Bridgend RFC players Cardiff RFC players Dragons RFC players Neath RFC players Penarth RFC players People educated at St Cyres Comprehensive School Rugby union flankers Rugby union players from Cardiff Wales international rugby union players Welsh rugby union players {{Wales-rugbyunion-bio-stub