Gareth Cooper (born 7 May 1979 in

Bridgend Bridgend (; or just , meaning "the end of the bridge on the Ogmore") is a town in the Bridgend County Borough of Wales, west of Cardiff and east of Swansea. The town is named after the Old Bridge, Bridgend, medieval bridge over the River Og ...

) is a former

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 ...

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 in the scrum-half position.

Career

Cooper started playing rugby with

Pencoed Pencoed (also Pen-coed); ) is a town and community in the county borough of Bridgend, Wales. It straddles the M4 motorway north east of Bridgend and is situated on the Ewenny River. At the 2011 census it had a population of around 9,166. Etymo ...

before moving to Bath in the West Country. Cooper made his international debut in 2001 against Italy, when many were claiming him to be the successor to Rob Howley. He toured to Japan in later that year. After Howley's retirement in 2002 he was given his first run in the side in 2003, becoming first choice for the

2003 Rugby World Cup The 2003 Rugby World Cup was the fifth Rugby World Cup and was won by England national rugby union team, England. Originally planned to be co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand, all games were shifted to Australia following a contractual dispu ...

. He returned to play in Wales after that tournament with the Celtic Warriors, but he found himself scrapping with the

Scarlets The Scarlets () are one of the four professional Welsh rugby union teams and are based in Llanelli, Wales. Their home ground is the Parc y Scarlets stadium. They play in the United Rugby Championship and in European Professional Club Rugby c ...

Dwayne Peel Dwayne John Peel (born 31 August 1981) is a Welsh rugby union coach and former player. He was the most capped scrum-half for the Wales national rugby union team with 76 caps, until his record was surpassed by Mike Phillips on 16 March 2013. Yo ...

for the scrum-half jersey during the 2004 Six Nations. He joined the Newport Gwent Dragons in 2004 when the Celtic Warriors were disbanded, but his form went downhill and Peel secured the scrum-half shirt with some stunning performances during Wales' Grand Slam in the 2005 Six Nations. Despite playing mostly on the bench for Wales he was selected for the British & Irish Lions tour to New Zealand, but with three other scrum halves on the tour he struggled to get game time as he was last in the pecking order behind Peel, Matt Dawson and Chris Cusiter. With the emergence of Mike Phillips he struggled to fight for his way into the Wales team as he became a distant third choice. He moved to

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city, non-metropolitan district and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West England, South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean ...

in 2007. He made the Wales squad for the

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 ...

but still as third-choice scrum-half and he played just one match as substitute against Japan. He got another chance for Wales on a tour to South Africa in 2008 when Phillips and Peel both were injured. He impressed in two matches against South Africa and kept his place ahead of Peel and the still injured Phillips for the Autumn internationals that year, including a 21–18 win over Australia. He was injured during the 2009 Six Nations but returned to the Wales side for the summer tour to North America. The tour did not go well and he was replaced at half-time by Peel against Canada. He left Gloucester in 2009 after losing his place to Rory Lawson and moved to the

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 ...

to replace Jason Spice. He played again for Wales in the 2010 Six Nations against

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

and

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

but was replaced by Richie Rees for the remainder of the tournament.

announced on 3 November 2010 that he would be leaving the club, due to a long-standing groin injury.
Cardiff Blues news item.

References

External links

Gloucester Rugby profileNewport Gwent Dragons profileWales profileCardiff Blues news item
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cooper, Gareth 1979 births Living people Rugby union players from Bridgend Rugby union scrum-halves Wales international rugby union players Welsh rugby union players British & Irish Lions rugby union players from Wales Bath Rugby players Dragons RFC players Gloucester Rugby players Cardiff Rugby players Alumni of Cardiff Metropolitan University Rugby union players from Gloucestershire 2003 Rugby World Cup players 2007 Rugby World Cup players