Rhys Priestland

At 37 years old, Rhys Priestland has this physical status:

Club career

Priestland, a product of the Scarlets academy, began his senior rugby career with Carmarthen Quins, earning six appearances in 2005-06. In March 2006, he began a professional development contract with the Scarlets. Stephen Jones, the former Scarlets fly-half, returned to France for two seasons with Clermont Auvergne in France, and Priestland served as the Scarlets' third-choice fly-half behind Jones and Ceiron Thomas in the 2006–07 season.

Priestland played 150 games for them and gained over 1,000 points. He scored a try against USA Perpetnan in the 2010-11 season, which the Scarlets won in the first half.

Priestland will join Bath on a two-year deal from January 2015 to the end of the 2014-15 season. He played for Bath for six seasons before returning to Wales for the 2021-22 season, signing a long-term deal with Cardiff Rugby (later renamed Cardiff Rugby). He made his Edinburgh debut in Cardiff's 2021–22 United Rugby Championship season opener against Connacht on September 24th, but he had to be replaced in the first two minutes after being struck in the chest by Connacht prop Finlay Bealham's knee. He recovered from the injury in time to begin the match against the Ospreys on October 2nd; he played the full match and scored two conversions, but Cardiff lost the match 18–14. He scored 14 of Cardiff's 19 points against the Bulls this week, but it wasn't enough to prevent a 29-19 loss and instead put up 13 points in a 23–17 victory over the Sharks on October 16.

International career

Priestland, a member of the Wales under-19 squad that captured the Grand Slam in 2006, received his first senior call-up in January 2011 as one of three fly-half options alongside Stephen Jones and James Hook. Priestland made his international debut on February 12, 2011, defeating Scotland 24–6 in Murrayfield after being an unused replacement for the 26-19 loss in the first round. He was back on the bench for Wales' third match against Italy, but he didn't come on, before being left out entirely for the final two matches against Ireland and France.

Priestland's solid form for the Scarlets in the remainder of the 2010–11 season saw him return to the Wales squad for a match against the Barbarians in June 2011, where he was inserted as a late substitute for Stephen Jones as Wales lost 31-28 before being inserted in a 39-man training squad for the 2011 Rugby World Cup. Priestland made his first appearance for Wales against England on August 6, 2011, but the ten-back was reportedly selected at full speed against England, but Priestland changed to fly-half at last minute, losing by two converts in a 23-19 loss. In the return match at the Millennium Stadium on August 13, he scored two goals before being replaced by Aled Brew at halftime; Wales defeated the match 19–9. Priestland was left out of Warren Gatland's World Cup squad after reportedly doing enough to qualify for a spot in the final warm-up match against Argentina.

Priestland was one of three fly-halves selected by Gatland for the World Cup, as well as Jones and Hook. Priestland was named as Wales' starting fly-half for their first match against South Africa, with Jones still suffering from a calf injury. Priestland had a chance to win the game with a drop goal in front of the posts, but he lobbed it everywhere with South Africa leading by a point with ten minutes to go. Nevertheless, he retained the number 10 jersey for his second match against Samoa, scoring two goals in a 17-10 victory. Jones returned to the starting XV for the match against bottom of Namibia, playing 63 minutes before Priestland took over and scored three of his five conversion attempts, but Wales lost the match 66–0, with Priestland scoring five conversions and a penalty before being replaced by Jones for the final 20 minutes.

Priestland got off to a promising start against Ireland in the quarter-finals, but then fell behind for two tries in the last two minutes, meaning he missed the semi-final against France. After losing to 21–18 to Australia in the third-place play-off, Wales lost the match 9–8 and ultimately ended the tournament in fourth place.

Priestland recovered to fitness in time for their Wales friendly match against Australia on December 3, 2011, ahead of Ospreys fly-half Dan Biggar. Priestland also crossed for his first international appearance as Wales lost 24–18. Gatland selected Priestland and Hook as his two fly-half choices for the 2012 Six Nations Championship, with Priestland starting all five matches, despite the tournament having lingering knee injuries. He received his first yellow card of his international career in his third match against England. Leigh Halfpenny was given the tournament's goalkicking duties, but Priestland only scored three points against Italy in the fourth round, with a penalty against Italy. Wales won all five of their matches in the 2012 Six Nations, winning their third Grand Slam title in eight seasons.

Following Wales' triumph on the Six Nations, Wales suffered a 3–0 test series loss on their summer tour and then failed to win any of their Autumn internationals; Priestland played in all seven of those matches, starting six of them and seeing a sports psychologist. In addition, he sustained a torn Achilles tendon injury in a match for the Scarlets in early December 2012, effectively ending his participation in Wales' Six Nations championship defense in 2013. Priestland missed Wales' summer tour of Japan while still recovering from international rugby in November 2013 as a fly-half in Wales' first match of the 2013 Autumn internationals against South Africa, but Wales lost 24–15. Priestland later postponed the next game against Argentina before making replacement appearances against both Tonga and Australia.

Priestland returned to the starting lineup for the 2014 Six Nations, but Wales won just two of the four games in which he was active, and he was forced to the bench for the final game against Scotland. Priestland also missed Wales' summer tour to South Africa in 2014 due to a knee injury in the Scarlets' final game of the 2013–14 season. Priestland returned to Wales action as a substitute in their 33–28 loss to Australia on November 8th, but the players were in front of the posts after penalty tries. Priestland was one of the replacements for every match in the 2015 Six Nations, having played just twice against France and Italy and playing a total of just 16 minutes of rugby with Biggar now named as Wales' first-choice fly-half. Priestland appeared in just one warm-up match against Ireland ahead of the 2015 Rugby World Cup, while another unused replacement for a match against Italy a week later. Despite this lack of game time, Gatland has named Priestland in his squad for the tournament, as well as giving him the starting lineup against Uruguay. Priestland converted seven of his eight conversion attempts, leading Wales to a 54–9 victory. Biggar returned to start the remaining three pool matches, as well as the quarter-final loss to South Africa, but Priestland continued to sit on the bench every time.

Priestland revealed that he planned to take an 18-month break from international service, a move that might put a permanent end to Priestland's international career, but two months later, Priestland reversed his decision in the hopes of being selected in the Wales squad for the 2016 Six Nations. He was ultimately selected for the tournament and made an appearance off the bench in the first match against Ireland after Biggar sustained an early injury; he scored 11 points in the game, but missed a late drop goal as the game ended 16-16. Biggar recovered in time to keep the starting job for the next game against Scotland, and in each of the next three games, Priestland was limited to no more than cameo appearances in the final ten minutes, but he did land two conversions as Wales started a late, but unsuccessful comeback against England. Priestland came on to play the final 22 minutes as Wales defeated Wales 6–14, with Wales leading 46-77 in the final match against Italy. Priestland was also chosen for Wales' tour of New Zealand this summer; ahead of the tour, he appeared in the final 25 minutes of their 27-13 loss to England at Twickenham. He was then left out of Wales' 40–7 loss to the Chiefs, but after a conversion, he stepped up and came off the bench in each of the last two tests, setting up a test for Liam Williams.

The Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) modified its recruitment policy in September 2016, meaning that only three players based outside Wales could be selected for international matches. Priestland was dropped from the Wales squad for the 2016 autumn internationals due to George North, Jamie Roberts, and his Bath teammate Taulupe Faletau. Priestland said he would be surprised if he played for Wales again in September 2017, more than a year since his last cap. The WRU redesigned its selection policy in October 2017, ensuring that any player who signed a deal outside of Wales before then could be drafted again, but that will depend on them returning to Wales at the end of their contracts; Priestland's club form led to his selection for Wales. He missed his first match against Australia but then started the match against Georgia; he played the whole 80 minutes and was a winner, contributing eight of Wales' points in a 13–6 victory. He was on the bench for Wales' third match against New Zealand, but Biggar was brought to life for the final 17 minutes of the game, earning his 50th test cap. Priestland was unable to attend Wales' next match against South Africa because he had to return to his club team side. Priestland sustained a hamstring injury in January 2018, but he was still selected for the 2018 Six Nations; however, the injury was severe enough that he did not participate in the tournament.

Priestland, who returned to Wales with Cardiff Rugby, was eligible for Wales selection again and was welcomed to the team for the 2021 Autumn internationals. In the first match against New Zealand on October 30th, 2021, he came on for Gareth Anscombe in the 47th minute, scoring a penalty and a conversion in a 54–16 loss.

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