Neil JENKINS

After achieving glory with the Lions in 1997, Neil came back to earth with a bump in the 1998 season. Forced to play out of position at fullback he endured a harrowing Five Nations campaign that saw Wales slump to record defeats by both England and France. Against England, Wales scored two early tries by Alan Bateman but eventually went down by an embarrassing margin of 60-26. In a sense Wales shot themselves in the foot by claiming in the press that "man for man" they were a better side for England. As it turned out, virtually half the English side ended up crossing the line as David Rees (twice), Austin Healey, Neil Back, Lawrence Dallaglio, Will Greenwood, Kyran Bracken and Matt Dawson all scored tries.

After the game Neil stated that he "never wanted to play fullback again". Wales then rallied slightly to beat Scotland and Ireland, and it was in the latter match that Neil scored 20 points including a try in a 30-21 victory. However, it was in that match that he collided with another player and left the field with double vision. Those wins gave Wales an illusory sense of confidence and against France the Red Dragon suffered perhaps its worst international result to date - a 51-0 defeat that pushed the Celts "points against" total to 145 for the season. Neil was then somewhat fortunate to miss Wales summer test against South Africa where his countrymen succumbed to a 96-13 defeat. Later in the year Wales took on South Africa again under new coach Graham Henry, but this time produced a creditable showing in defeat and actually led 20-17 with three minutes remaining before going down 28-20. Neil scored five penalties and helped give Wales an early 14-0 nil lead, his haul also seeing him past the 600 mark in tests. He then followed that up with 23 more against the Pumas which included four conversions and five penalties. (Jon Collins)

1999 proved to be a highly fruitful year for Neil and his country, with Wales's improved performances prompting hopes of the unthinkable - victory in the World Cup. Things didn't quite work out like that but it was a season to remember all the same. Wales were never serious challengers for the Five Nations, losing to both of their Celtic rivals, but somehow managed to beat the pre tournament favourites England and France to hand the title to Scotland. Jenkins was consistent throughout, but it was against Grand Slam seekers England at Wembley that Neil produced one of his best performances, landing eight successful kicks including the winning conversion (see photo above). But it wasn't just Neil's form with the boot that proved crucial, as Miles Harrison would later recall of the England match in his book Grand Slam: "After the interval, Jenkins unlocked the near perfect English defence with a pass borrowed from Barry John's kit bag and Shane Howarth scored the try to bring Wales right back into the game." Despite Howarth's try, England still looked in control until centre Scott Gibbs eluded several weak tackles at the death to score a famous try. All Wales needed now was for Mr Reliable to convert the try, something Gibbs believed he would do; "When Neil was lining up to kick I didn't feel any nerves at all - I had total faith in his ability".

After consigning England to yet another Grand Slam failure, Wales continued on their magical run of form by defeating France for the second time that year and then South Africa, the Celt's first victory over a Southern Hemisphere nation since beating Australia in the 1987 World Cup. Against the touring Springboks, Neil scored 19 points in a 29-19 win and also put Gareth Thomas in for a try. In a special one off match that year against Italy, he also set a new individual points scoring record of 30, consisting of a try, five conversions and five penalties. That little haul also meant that Jenkins had scored 80 points in four appearances against the hapless Italians. Add to those achievements his 28 points against Canada which took him past the 800 mark, that particular haul consisting of a try, a conversion and seven penalties. In what proved to be Wales's eighth consecutive victory, the men in red defeated France with Neil setting a new record of nine penalties and a 29 point bag of gold. With such prodigious form, one might have expected Wales to have made a serious challenge for the World Cup. However, it is possible that the side had peaked a couple of months too soon or were also suffering from the weight of expectation and failed to make the hoped for impact.

However, it was a successful tournament for Neil on a personal level, for not only did he pass the 900 point mark, but he also broke the record of 911 set by Australian Michael Lynagh in the World Cup of 1995. In the pool game against Japan he levelled the record and then broke it against Western Samoa, despite fluffing a couple of early chances. Wales lost to the Samoans for the second time in World Cups by a score of 38-31, but Welsh fans didn't seem to mind given Jenkins' record breaking feats. On his achievement of becoming the World's leading scorer in tests, Jenkins would later proudly recall; "It is an honour for me to be mentioned in the same breath as Michael Lynagh, one of the game's great players. I'm just a boy from the valleys and it is still hard to think of my name being associated with the legends of the past." Unfortunately, Wales dreams of glory evaporated in the Cardiff rain against a coolly efficient Australian side who won their quarter-final match up by 24-9. However, hopes were high that the form of 1999 could be sustained and a return to the glory days of the 1970s was merely a formality. Wrong! (Jon Collins)

Much to the chagrin of the home fans, Wales failed to build on their achievements of 1999, and to make matters worse the game was rocked by the so called "Grannygate" affair involving Shane Howarth and Brett Sinkinson. Essentially, the incident resulted in the two players becoming disqualified after being unable to provide sufficient proof that they were actually Welsh. On the field, Wales suffered a poor Six Nations which included a 46-12 defeat by England at Twickenham and a 36-3 drubbing by France in Cardiff. The autumn 2000 series then saw the conclusion of the long running Neil Jenkins/Arwel Thomas debate, a saga that had similarities to the rivalry between Rob Andrew and Stuart Barnes in England in the early 90s.

The IRB Yearbook 2001 summarised the differing qualities of the two Welsh flay halves as thus; "Thomas was all daring hurry scurry when there was a gap to be explored and a cool, calculating opportunist who dropped cheeky goals. Jenkins enjoyed the reputation as a proven master tactician and supreme goal kicker." Thomas was given the nod against Western Samoa and the USA, whilst Jenkins was given a start against South Africa, only to be replaced by Thomas with twenty minutes remaining. With Wales in a possible winning position, Thomas started well by hitting a 40 metre penalty, but then proceeded to bungle several scoring chances, gifted a penalty to the opposition and then fluffed a crucial drop out. The South Africans eventually won 23-13 and Thomas's poor performance effectively sounded the death knell for his international career. His failure also appeared to vindicate supporters of the Jenkins cause who had long cited his consistency and reliability. Coach Graham Henry admitted that he had made a mistake in taking Jenkins off, and combined with his failure as coach of the British Lions, had given his critics sufficient fuel to prompt his eventual resignation. (Jon Collins)

With his career winding down after achieving so much in the game, all that remained for Neil Jenkins was to reach the magical 1, 000 point mark in tests. This was accomplished against England in the 2001 season, coincidentally the same side that he had made his debut against ten years previously. He went into the test on 996 and a penalty took him tantalisingly close on 999. Thereafter nerves crept in and he missed a conversion, a long range penalty (of the kind he usually kicked), and also hit the post with another effort. Salvation came in the form of old warhorse Scott Quinnell who scored a try near to the posts which Jenks converted (the photo above shows him, a picture of concentration, lining up the kick) to become the first player in history to reach 1, 000 points. He would later recall of his record breaking moment; "That one will never get broken. Someone might be the first to 2, 000 - Jonny Wilkinson could do that - but no one else can be the first to 1, 000".

Apart from Jenkins heroics, there was little to cheer and Wales even managed to blow a 25-6 lead against Scotland, with Neil eventually saving his side's blushes to salvage a 28-28 draw, his tally including 3 drop goals. Despite the inadequacies of the Welsh side, Neil still managed to score 74 points in the Championship, another record. By now, age and injuries were taking their toll on Jenkins, and his last full international came against Romania in 2002. However, he was granted a swansong the following year when he led the team out with his daughter Georgia in a match against the Barbarians. It was his 100th match for Wales including non cap appearances. In total Neil won 87 full caps and scored 1, 049 points. In terms of what motivated him to achieve so much, the man himself summed it perfectly in an interview with Rugby World: "Playing international rugby and pulling on that shirt - there's nothing like it" (Jon Collins)