Steven Shingler (born 20 June 1991) is a professional

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 for

Ealing Trailfinders Ealing Trailfinders Rugby Club is an English professional rugby union club based in West London. The club's first team are the reigning RFU Championship champions of 2024–25 but were considered ineligible for promotion to Premiership Rugby a ...

in the

RFU Championship The RFU Championship is an English rugby union competition comprising twelve clubs. It is the second level of men's English rugby and is played by both professional and semi-professional players. The competition has existed since 1987, when Eng ...

. His favoured position is

Fly-half In the game of rugby union, there are 15 players on each team, comprising eight forwards (wearing jerseys numbered 1–8) and seven backs (numbered 9–15). In addition, there may be up to eight replacement players "on the bench", numbered 16� ...

but he also plays centre and full-back. His older brother

Aaron Shingler Aaron Craig Shingler (born 7 August 1987) is a Wales international rugby union player and former cricketer. His usual rugby position is flanker. Background Born 7 August 1987, Shingler grew up in the west of Wales, attending Pontarddulais Com ...

is a Wales international rugby union player.

Club career

Shingler played youth rugby for Hendy RFC. He also played for Scarlets U18 from 2009 to 2011 and has represented Wales Under-20s at fly-half Shingler made his competitive debut for Llanelli RFC in 2009 against Cross Keys. He played for the Scarlets in four games, two of which were pre-season fixtures against Gloucester and Worcester. He also played for the Scarlets in their LV=Cup games, against Leeds and London Irish, scoring 20 points against the Exiles. Llanelli director of rugby Anthony Buchanan described Shingler as a kicker of "international standard". Shingler signed for

London Irish London Irish RFC is a professional rugby union club that most recently competed in the Premiership Rugby, Premiership, the top division of rugby union in England. The club also participated in the European Rugby Champions Cup, European Champion ...

on a two-year deal, starting in 2011–2012 season. In January 2013 it was confirmed Steven Shingler would rejoin 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 ...

for the 2013–14 season In March 2016 it was confirmed Shingler would head east of Llanelli to join rivals

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 ...

for the 2016–17 season, doing a straight swap with Rhys Patchell On 8 March 2019, Shingler was granted early release from Cardiff Blues to sign a short-term deal with

Pro D2 The Pro D2 is the second tier of rugby union club competition division in France. It is operated by Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR) which also runs the division directly above, the first division Top 14. Rugby Pro D2 was introduced in 2000. It ...

outfit

Mont-de-Marsan Mont-de-Marsan (; Gascon dialect, Occitan: ''Lo Mont de Marçan'') is a communes of France, commune and capital of the Landes (department), Landes Departments of France, department, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, southwestern France. Population Milit ...

in France. On 29 March 2019, it was announced that Shingler would return to England, signing a contract with the

in the

for the 2019–20 season. Shingler was named as the club captain for the

2022–23 RFU Championship The 2022–23 RFU Championship is the fourteenth season of the RFU Championship, the professional second tier of rugby union in England. It features eleven English teams and one from Jersey. Jersey Reds won the league with one match remaining. ...

season.

International career

Steven Shingler was born in

Swansea Swansea ( ; ) is a coastal City status in the United Kingdom, city and the List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, second-largest city of Wales. It forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area, officially known as the City and County of ...

, Wales and represented Wales Under-20's on fourteen occasions. On 17 November 2011 he stated his commitment to break into the Wales senior squad. On 5 January 2012, Shingler was named in the provisional

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 ...

squad for the 2012 Six Nations, based on the fact that his mother was born in

Dumfries Dumfries ( ; ; from ) is a market town and former royal burgh in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, near the mouth of the River Nith on the Solway Firth, from the Anglo-Scottish border. Dumfries is the county town of the Counties of Scotland, ...

, Scotland. However, due to his appearances for Wales u-20, the WRU contested this call up, stating that Wales had officially declared their u-20 squad as their second XV at the time, which they understood made Shingler ineligible to represent any country other than Wales under the 'capture' rules. The

Scottish Rugby Union The Scottish Rugby Union (SRU; ) is the Sport governing body, governing body of rugby union in Scotland. Now marketed as Scottish Rugby, it is the second-oldest Rugby Union, having been founded in 1873. The SRU oversees the national league sys ...

defended their selection, saying that Shingler had refused to sign a document tying himself to Wales and believed he was eligible to play internationally for Scotland. However the WRU challenged this position, and the IRB ruled that Shingler was only eligible to play for Wales, and not Scotland. In May 2012 an IRB appeal hearing confirmed the earlier ruling that Shingler can only represent Wales. In May 2013 he was selected in 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 ...

32-man training squad for the summer 2013 tour to Japan. He was also selected for the full national squad tour to South Africa in June 2014.

Coaching career

In 2019, Shingler began coaching with

London Welsh London Welsh Rugby Football Club () was a rugby union club formed in 1885. Based in Old Deer Park, Richmond-upon-Thames, London Welsh RFC played in the English Premiership in the 2012–13 and 2014–15 seasons, after gaining promotion from ...

, working as the backs coach while still playing for Ealing.

References

External links

Llanelli RFC profile
Archived fro
the original
on 24 April 2012. Retrieved 2 April 2023.
London Welsh coaching profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shingler, Steven 1991 births Living people Welsh rugby union players Scarlets players 21st-century Welsh sportsmen Llanelli RFC players London Irish players Rugby union players from Swansea People educated at Pontarddulais Comprehensive School Rugby union centres Cardiff Rugby players Stade Montois Rugby players Ealing Trailfinders Rugby Club players Welsh expatriate rugby union players in France