Ian Scott Gibbs (born 23 January 1971), also known by the

nickname A nickname is a substitute for the proper name of a familiar person, place or thing. Commonly used to express affection, a form of endearment, and sometimes amusement, it can also be used to express defamation of character. As a concept, it is ...

of "Car Crash", is a Welsh former

rugby football Rugby football is the collective name for the team sports of rugby union and rugby league. Canadian football and, to a lesser extent, American football were once considered forms of rugby football, but are seldom now referred to as such. The ...

er who has represented

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 ...

and the

Lions The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large Felidae, cat of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body; short, rounded head; round ears; and a hairy tuft at the end of its tail. It is sexually dimorphi ...

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 ...

and

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

. Noted feats included his performance in the 1997 British Lions tour to South Africa (in which he was named "Player of the Series") and the individual try he scored in the dying minutes of the last Five Nations match in

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school s ...

against

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

Background

Gibbs was born in

Bridgend Bridgend (; cy, Pen-y-bont ar Ogwr or just , meaning "the end of the bridge on the Ogmore") is a town in Bridgend County Borough in Wales, west of Cardiff and east of Swansea. The town is named after the medieval bridge over the River Og ...

, Glamorgan, Wales.

Rugby union

Gibbs began his rugby career at Pencoed RFC, progressing through the mini and youth levels. His first class career started at Bridgend RFC during the 1990/91 season, followed by a short spell at

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 ...

, before making his

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peopl ...

debut in 1991 against England. However he transferred to

Swansea RFC Swansea Rugby Football Club is a Welsh rugby union team which plays in the Welsh Premiership. 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 ...

in January 1992, scoring a try on his début in a Cup game against Oakdale. Gibbs also scored further tries that season in the cup against

and

Newport RFC Newport Rugby Football Club ( cy, Clwb Rygbi Casnewydd) is a Welsh rugby union club based in the city of Newport, South Wales. They presently play in the Welsh Premier Division. Until 2021 Newport RFC were based at Rodney Parade situated on ...

to help Swansea reach the final where they lost to

Llanelli RFC Llanelli Rugby Football Club ( cy, Clwb Rygbi Llanelli) is a Welsh rugby union club founded on 30 March 1872. The club's historic home ground was Stradey Park in Llanelli, but they moved in 2008 to the new Parc y Scarlets in adjacent Pembe ...

Cardiff Arms Park Cardiff Arms Park ( cy, Parc yr Arfau Caerdydd), also known as The Arms Park, is situated in the centre of Cardiff, Wales. It is primarily known as a rugby union stadium, but it also has a bowling green. The Arms Park was host to the British ...

. Despite being only 22, he was selected for the 1993 British Lions tour to New Zealand, where he impressed so much that he was selected for the second and third tests instead of then-England captain

Will Carling William David Charles Carling (born 12 December 1965) is an English former rugby union player. He was England's youngest captain, aged 22, and won 72 caps from 1988 to 1996, captaining England 59 times. Under his captaincy, England won Fiv ...

. In 1994 Gibbs left union to join rugby league team St. Helens.

Rugby league

Whilst playing league, Gibbs was selected to play for

in the 1995 World Cup. He also won the

Challenge Cup The Challenge Cup is a knockout rugby league cup competition organised by the Rugby Football League, held annually since 1896, with the exception of 1915–1919 and 1939–1940, due to World War I and World War II respectively. It involves a ...

, and the inaugural

Super League The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of ...

title with St. Helens in 1996. He played at centre in the

1996 Challenge Cup The 1996 Challenge Cup was the 95th staging of the Challenge Cup tournament. Known as the Silk Cut Challenge Cup due to sponsorship from Silk Cut, it was the first Challenge Cup of the summer era. The tournament featured 40 teams playing 42 gam ...

Final victory over

Bradford Bulls The Bradford Bulls are a professional rugby league club in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, playing in the Championship. They have won five Challenge Cups, six league championships and three World Club Challenges. The team jersey is pre ...

. Scott Gibbs played at in St. Helens' 16–25 defeat by

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, on the River Douglas, Lancashire, River Douglas. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. Bolton lies to the nor ...

in the 1995–96 Regal Trophy Final during the 1995–96 at

Alfred McAlpine Stadium Kirklees Stadium (currently known due to sponsorship as the John Smith's Stadium) is a multi-use stadium in Huddersfield in West Yorkshire, England. Since 1994, it has been the home ground of football club Huddersfield Town and rugby lea ...

Huddersfield Huddersfield is a market town in the Kirklees district in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confluence into t ...

on Saturday 13 January 1996.

Return to union

On his return to union in 1996 it was sometimes joked that he was the fastest prop in world rugby, though in fact he was an inside centre. He became known as the world's hardest tackler (summed up by his nickname "Car-Crash") and this was exemplified by his performance in his second Lions tour. In 1997 Gibbs was a key member of the victorious British Lions tour of South Africa. The

Springboks The South Africa national rugby union team, commonly known as the Springboks (colloquially the Boks, Bokke or Amabokoboko), is the country's national team governed by the South African Rugby Union. The Springboks play in green and gold jersey ...

were at the time the world champions following the 1995 World Cup, and were expected to win the series. However, the Lions produced some noted defensive performances with Gibbs at the centre of the action pulling off some devastating tackles. In one game, Gibbs crashed through the Springboks' key player, 19-stone Os du Randt on one of his trademark bullocking runs. The Lions went on to win the series 2–1 and Gibbs was voted "Player of the Series". In later years Gibbs was sometimes criticised for being too one-dimensional, but he did show agility to claim the winning try in the last-ever Five Nations match in 1999. Wales were playing England at

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

with England trying to complete the Grand Slam. England led by 6 points with 3 minutes left to play and appeared to have won the game. However, during injury time (which was added to the 80 minutes in the era prior to the practice of stopping the game clock) Wales had a final attacking line-out from which Gibbs received a Scott Quinnell pass 20m from the try line. Gibbs memorably broke through England's defensive line, ran around one defender, side-stepped another and crossed for one of the most celebrated tries in Welsh rugby history. In a 2013 article for ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide ...

'', Gibbs said that the play was inspired by a move that his old St Helens teammate Bobbie Goulding had regularly used to great success in the 13-man code, namely packing the midfield with forwards before allowing a back to cut through on a diagonal dummy run. Following

Neil Jenkins Neil Jenkins, (born 8 July 1971) is a Welsh former rugby union player and current coach. He played fly-half, centre, or full back for Pontypridd, Cardiff, Celtic Warriors, Wales and the British & Irish Lions. Jenkins is Wales' highest ever p ...

' conversion, Wales won the match 32–31 in what is agreed to be one of the best matches played in the competition, and caused England not only to miss out on the Grand Slam, but handed the last Five Nations Championship to Scotland. In 2001 Gibbs was called up as a replacement to the 2001 British & Irish Lions tour to Australia, though he did not play in any of the Tests.

Post-retirement

Gibbs retired from rugby in 2004 at age 33 and went on to contribute to the BBC's rugby union coverage. He also coaches the Pirates in

Muscat, Oman Muscat ( ar, مَسْقَط, ) is the capital and most populated city in Oman. It is the seat of the Governorate of Muscat. According to the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI), the total population of Muscat Governorate was ...

. Gibbs resides in

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second larges ...

, South Africa, with his fiancée.

References

External links

*(archived by web.archive.org
Profile at wru.co.uk (RU)Profile at saints.org.uk (RL)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gibbs, Scott 1971 births Living people British & Irish Lions rugby union players from Wales Cool Cymru Dual-code rugby internationals Neath RFC players People educated at Ysgol Gyfun Llanhari Rugby league centres Rugby league players from Bridgend Rugby union centres Rugby union players from Bridgend St Helens R.F.C. players Swansea RFC players Wales international rugby union players Wales national rugby league team players Wales rugby union captains Welsh expatriates in South Africa Welsh rugby league players Welsh rugby union players Ospreys (rugby union) players