Aled Brew (born 9 August 1986) is a former Wales international

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

player who played as a winger. He made his debut for the

Wales national rugby union team The Wales national rugby union team () represents the Welsh Rugby Union in men's international rugby union. Its governing body, the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU), was established in 1881, the same year that Wales played their first international agai ...

against

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

in the

2007 Six Nations Championship The 2007 Six Nations Championship was the eighth series of the rugby union Six Nations Championship. Including the previous incarnations as the Home Nations and Five Nations, this was the 113th series of the international championship. Fifteen ma ...

. In his career, as well as playing for

Biarritz Olympique Biarritz Olympique Pays Basque (; ), usually known simply as Biarritz, is a French professional rugby union team based in the Iparralde, Basque city of Biarritz in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Pyrénées-Atlantiques department of Nouvelle-Aquitaine ...

and

Bath Rugby Bath Rugby is a professional rugby union club in Bath, Somerset, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. Founded in 1865 as Bath Football Club, since 1894 the club has played at the Recreation Ground, Bath, Rec ...

, he is one of only a handful of players to have played for all four top-level regional teams in Wales.

Early life

Brew was born in

Cardiff Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...

to a Welsh mother and Ghanaian father, and was raised a Welsh language speaker in

Gwaun-Cae-Gurwen Gwaun-Cae-Gurwen () is a village and community (Wales), community in Neath Port Talbot, South West Wales. Historically a part of Glamorgan, Gwaun-Cae-Gurwen is a Community (Wales), parish made up of the electoral Gwaun-Cae-Gurwen (electoral ward) ...

. His older brother

Nathan Nathan or Natan may refer to: People and biblical figures *Nathan (given name), including a list of people and characters with this name * Nathan (surname) *Nathan (prophet), a person in the Hebrew Bible *Nathan (son of David), a biblical figu ...

also played rugby union professionally.

Club career

Having started his semi-professional career with stints at

Neath Neath (; ) is a market town and Community (Wales), community situated in the Neath Port Talbot, Neath Port Talbot County Borough, Wales. The town had a population of 50,658 in 2011. The community of the parish of Neath had a population of 19,2 ...

and

Swansea RFC Swansea Rugby Football Club is a Welsh rugby union team which plays in the Super Rygbi Cymru. The club play at St Helen's Rugby and Cricket Ground in Swansea and are also known as ''The Whites,'' in reference to their home kit colours. History ...

, Brew joined the Ospreys at 17 years old. He was sent out on loan to the Newport Gwent Dragons for the 2006/7 season, for whom he scored 65 points in 28 appearances, scoring 13 tries. Playing alongside his brother, Brew was the victim of alleged racial abuse from fans on 16 February 2007, while playing against

Ulster Rugby Ulster Rugby is one of the four professional provincial rugby union teams from the island of Ireland. They compete in the Irish regional pool of the United Rugby Championship and in the European Rugby Champions Cup, each of which they have won ...

Ulster Ulster (; or ; or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional or historic provinces of Ireland, Irish provinces. It is made up of nine Counties of Ireland, counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kingdom); t ...

. Ulster Rugby however were subsequently cleared of any wrongdoing and the abuse was not proven. Returning to the Ospreys for the 2007/8 season, he found competition hard against the in-form

Shane Williams Shane Mark Williams, (born 26 February 1977) is a Welsh former rugby union player most famous for his long and successful tenure as a wing for the Ospreys and the Wales national team. He also played scrum-half on occasion. Williams is the r ...

, despite having already played international rugby for

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

by that point, and spent much time in the second team. Brew signed for

Cardiff Blues Cardiff Rugby () are one of the four professional Welsh rugby union teams. Based in Cardiff, the team play at Cardiff Arms Park. Originally formed in 1876, from 2003 to 2021 the first team was known as the Cardiff Blues before rebranding back ...

in May 2008, however he made just one appearance in the 2008/9 Celtic League season and was loaned to

Pontypridd RFC Pontypridd Rugby Football Club () is a rugby union team from Pontypridd, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. It competes in the Admiral Premiership and the WRU Premiership Cup, a trophy which they won for the 7th time in 2025. Their last league title ...

and Newport Gwent Dragons later in the season. The following season, Brew returned to Dragons. In February 2012, after initially having discussions with

Perpignan Perpignan (, , ; ; ) is the prefectures in France, prefecture of the Pyrénées-Orientales departments of France, department in Southern France, in the heart of the plain of Roussillon, at the foot of the Pyrenees a few kilometres from the Me ...

, Brew signed for French club

for the 2012/13 season. Brew re-joined the Newport Gwent Dragons in 2014, and after two seasons he left the Dragons on a short-term contract at English side

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

in the

Aviva Premiership Premiership Rugby, officially known as Gallagher Premiership Rugby, or the Gallagher Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is an English professional rugby union competition, consisting of 10 clubs, and is the top division of the English rugby u ...

. In December 2016, Brew signed permanent deal with Bath until the end of the 2017–18 season., however her went on to spend four seasons with the club. Following this, Brew joined the Scarlets in September 2020 as short-term injury cover, but played just one match before announcing his retirement in December 2020. At the time of his retirement, he held the Dragons' try-scoring record with 43.

International career

Brew represented Wales at Under-16, Under-U18 and Under-21 levels, as well as playing for the Wales Sevens team. He was called into the Wales national senior squad for the

, making his senior debut as a replacement in the match against

. Brew was also named as part of

Gareth Jenkins Gareth John James Jenkins (born 11 September 1951) is a Welsh former rugby union player and coach. Born in Burry Port, Carmarthenshire, he played for Llanelli RFC for 17 years from his debut in September 1969. He was appointed coach of the club ...

's squad for the two-Test tour of Australia in May 2007 and gained his second cap in the second Test defeat in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

. Brew was named in Jenkins's 41-man preliminary

2007 Rugby World Cup The 2007 Rugby World Cup () was the sixth Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition organised by the International Rugby Board. Twenty nations competed for the Webb Ellis Cup in the tournament, which was hosted by F ...

summer training squad in the June, but failed to make the final cut for the tournament. Brew has represented Wales Sevens in the first two stages of the 2007–2008 IRB Sevens World Series, in

Dubai Dubai (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...

and

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, where the team won the Bowl trophy in the latter leg. Brew was part of the Wales Sevens team that won the Melrose Cup at the

2009 Rugby World Cup Sevens The 2009 Rugby sevens World Cup was the fifth edition of the Rugby World Cup Sevens. The International Rugby Board (IRB) selected Dubai in the United Arab Emirates as the host venue for the tournament ahead of bids from four other countries. The f ...

. In November 2010, Brew was recalled to the Wales national squad for the Autumn International series and was selected in the starting line-up against Fiji. He scored his first international try versus the

Barbarians A barbarian is a person or tribe of people that is perceived to be primitive, savage and warlike. Many cultures have referred to other cultures as barbarians, sometimes out of misunderstanding and sometimes out of prejudice. A "barbarian" may ...

on 4 June 2011. In August 2011 Brew was named in the Wales squad for the

2011 Rugby World Cup The 2011 Rugby World Cup, was the seventh Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. The World Rugby, International Rugby Board (IRB) selected New Zealand as the host country in preference to Japa ...

in New Zealand.

International tries

References

External links

*
Wales profile
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Brew, Aled 1986 births Living people Rugby union players from Cardiff Wales international rugby union players Welsh rugby union players Rugby union wings Ospreys (rugby union) players Dragons RFC players Cardiff Rugby players Pontypridd RFC players Aberavon RFC players Black British sportsmen People educated at Cwmtawe Community School Scarlets players 21st-century Welsh sportsmen Biarritz Olympique players Bath Rugby players 2011 Rugby World Cup players Welsh expatriate rugby union players in France