Jonathan Thomas (born 27 December 1982, in Pembroke) is a Welsh

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 ...

coach and former player, he played mainly at flanker having also played at number eight and

lock Lock(s) or Locked may refer to: Common meanings *Lock and key, a mechanical device used to secure items of importance *Lock (water navigation), a device for boats to transit between different levels of water, as in a canal Arts and entertainme ...

. He was previously head coach of Worcester Warriors. On 17 January 2023 he was appointed as an Assistant Coach of the Welsh

team.

Early life

Thomas was an international cricketer playing for Wales u.15's

Career

Club

Thomas started out playing for Pembroke RFC juniors, before playing for

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 ...

when they were still a professional club, captaining them at 19. With the regionalisation of Welsh rugby in 2003, Swansea combined with Neath to form the Ospreys, where over a 10-year period Thomas won four league titles and an

Anglo-Welsh Cup The Anglo-Welsh Cup (), was a cross-border rugby union knock-out cup competition that featured the 12 Premiership Rugby clubs and the four Welsh regions. It was a created as a replacement for the RFU Knockout Cup, which featured only English clubs ...

. He is the youngest player to captain the Ospreys. At the time of leaving, he was the joint highest appearance holder, together with Andrew Bishop on 188 appearances. On 28 May 2013, Thomas joined English team

Worcester Warriors Worcester Warriors are a professional rugby union club based in Worcester, England. They most recently played in Premiership Rugby, the top division of English rugby union, before being suspended by the Rugby Football Union, RFU in September 2 ...

from the 2013–14 season. He was soon made club captain for Worcester Warriors for the 2013–14 season.

International career

Thomas played for Wales at Under 16, Youth, Under 19, Under 21 and Sevens level. He made his international debut against

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in 2003. Many noticed him during 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 ...

in the match against

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

for his man of the match display. He also played in the 2007 Rugby World Cup. Thomas was part of two Six Nations Grand Slams, in

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

, and in

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

where he started every game. Thomas was included in every Wales Six Nations squad between 2004 and 2011. In his appearances for Wales, he scored seven tries.

Coaching

Thomas joined Bristol Rugby ahead of the 2016/17 campaign as Defence and Forwards Coach. He moved to former club

ahead of the 2020–21 season. He left with immediate effect on 25 January 2022.

References

External links

Wales Profile
1982 births Living people Ospreys (rugby union) players 21st-century Welsh sportsmen Rugby union flankers Rugby union number eights Rugby union players from Pembroke Swansea RFC players Wales international rugby union players Welsh rugby union coaches Welsh rugby union players Worcester Warriors players 2003 Rugby World Cup players 2007 Rugby World Cup players {{Wales-rugbyunion-bio-stub