Tavis Knoyle (born 2 June 1990 in

Pontneddfechan ; ; also known as Pontneathvaughan) is a village in Powys, Wales. It is the southernmost village in the historic county of Brecknockshire, within the Vale of Neath and in the community of Ystradfellte. It stands at the confluence of the rivers ...

Vale of Neath The Vale of Neath (or Neath Valley, Welsh: ''Cwm Nedd''), one of the South Wales Valleys, encompasses the upper reaches of the River Neath in southwest Wales. In addition to the River Neath, it is traversed by the Neath Canal and the A465 du ...

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 ...

) is a

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 ...

footballer who plays at scrum-half. He is a fluent Welsh speaker.

Club career

After a youth career at home town club

Glynneath RFC Glynneath RFC are a Welsh Rugby Union club playing in WRU Championship West of the WRU National Leagues. The Club has won a number of honours over the years, including the locally famous Invincibles of the 1961–62 season captained by Bas Thoma ...

, he made his senior debut at

Neath RFC Neath Rugby Football Club () is a Welsh rugby union club which plays in the Indigo Premiership for Season 2024/25. The club's home ground is The Gnoll, Neath. The team is known as the All Blacks because of the team colours: black with only a whi ...

, and made his

Celtic League The Celtic League is a pan-Celtic organization, founded in 1961, that aims to promote modern Celtic identity and culture in Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Brittany, Cornwall and the Isle of Man – referred to as the Celtic nations; it places pa ...

debut with Ospreys in April 2009. After impressing with Wales Under 20 squad, he joined 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 ...

at the start of the 2009/10 campaign, scoring his first try for the Scarlets in a victory over Ulster, and was awarded the Magners League Man of the Match. On 16 May 2013, Knoyle signed to join English side

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 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 ...

on a two-year contract, joining former Scarlets coach Nigel Davies who had been appointed Director of Rugby at the

Kingsholm Stadium Kingsholm Stadium is a rugby union stadium located in the Kingsholm area of Gloucester, England, and is the home stadium of Gloucester Rugby. The stadium has a capacity of 16,115. It is sometimes nicknamed 'Castle Grim', after the estate where ...

in June 2012. On 5 February 2014, he signed an agreement to join

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 ...

. Knoyle was loaned out 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 ...

8 months later and made his debut for the club on 11 October 2014 against London Scottish in the

British and Irish Cup The British and Irish Cup was an annual rugby union competition for second tier, semi-professional clubs and the reserves or developing teams from professional clubs from Great Britain and Ireland. It took place for the first time in the 2009� ...

. Knoyle played his final game for the valleys team against

Connacht Eagles Connacht Rugby is one of the four professional provincial men's rugby teams from the island of Ireland. Connacht competes in the United Rugby Championship and the European Rugby Champions Cup. The team represents the IRFU Connacht Branch, which ...

on 6 December 2014, before making his return to his parent regional side. On 16 October 2016, Knoyle signed for Welsh region

Dragons A dragon is a magical legendary creature that appears in the folklore of multiple cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in Western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depict ...

from the 2016–17 season. In doing so he would become only the third player to play for all four professional Welsh rugby regions. Knoyle departed the Dragons during the 2021–22 season, joining

Merthyr RFC Merthyr RFC is a Wales, Welsh rugby union club based in Merthyr Tydfil in South Wales. Merthyr RFC are members of the Welsh Rugby Union, playing in the Principality Premiership, and are a feeder club for Cardiff Rugby. Early history Merthyr's fir ...

soon after.

International career

Having played for Wales at Under 16 and Under 18 levels, under the tutelage of Phil Davies he won four Wales Under 20 caps in 2009. Knoyle was named in the squad for the 2010 Wales rugby union tour of New Zealand, making his debut against New Zealand in

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; ) is the second-most populous city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from ("fort of Edin"), the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of S ...

on 20 June 2010 as a second-half replacement. Knoyle was named in the Welsh squad for the

2011 Six Nations Championship The 2011 Six Nations Championship, known as the 2011 RBS 6 Nations due to sponsorship by the Royal Bank of Scotland, was the 12th series of the Six Nations Championship, and the 117th edition of the international championship. The annual rugby uni ...

, winning his second cap in the clash with Scotland at

Murrayfield Murrayfield is an area to the west of Edinburgh city centre in Scotland. It is to the east of Corstorphine and north of Balgreen, Saughtonhall and Roseburn. The A8 road (Scotland), A8 road runs east–west through the south of the area. Murra ...

, replacing Mike Phillips in the 76th minute. Knoyle was selected 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 ...

, starting the pool match against

Namibia Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country on the west coast of Southern Africa. Its borders include the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south; in the no ...

. A shoulder injury ruled Knoyle of the 2012 Six Nations, but he returned to the squad for the 2012 end-of-year rugby union internationals, and named to start against

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

, displacing veteran scrum half Mike Phillips. While selected in the squad for the 2013 Six Nations, Knoyle did not feature in any test. His final involvement with the Wales squad came during the 2013 Wales rugby union tour of Japan, coming off the bench in both tests. Knoyle has also represented Wales Sevens in the

World Rugby Sevens Series The SVNS, known as the HSBC SVNS for sponsorship reasons, is an annual series of international rugby sevens tournaments run by World Rugby featuring national sevens teams. Organised for the first time in the 1999–2000 season as the IRB World ...

References

External List

WRU ProfileScarlets profileDragons profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Knoyle, Tavis 1990 births Living people Cardiff Rugby players Dragons RFC players Gloucester Rugby players Glynneath RFC players Llanelli RFC players Neath RFC players Ospreys (rugby union) players Pontypridd RFC players Rugby union players from Powys Rugby union scrum-halves Scarlets players 21st-century Welsh sportsmen Rugby union players from Gloucestershire Wales international rugby union players Welsh rugby union players 2011 Rugby World Cup players