Neil JENKINS

As the first man to reach the 1,000 mark in test matches, Pontypridd's Neil Jenkins (aka "Jenks" and "The Ginger Monster") was quite simply a points scoring machine and one shudders to think how Wales might have fared in the 1990s and early 2000s without his trusty right boot. In a career spanning eleven years, Jenkins saw off several rivals in his position and held innumerable records upon retirement, including most points scored (1, 049), most penalties (248) most Welsh caps (87) and most tests at fly half (70). One of the few Welsh records he did not hold was that of number of drop goals - he fell three short of Jonathan Davies' total of thirteen. Incredibly, given his eventual points tally, Jenkins was not always first choice kicker for Wales and was often compared unfavourably with legendary fly halves of years gone by such as Barry John and Phil Bennett. However, like another oft criticised stand off, England's Rob Andrew, Jenkins was always his own man and fully aware of his strengths and limitations. In retirement he told Rugby World magazine: "If someone had offered me this career when I was starting out, I would have ripped their arm off to take that and said thanks very much. I am pretty lucky." Jenkins made his debut at just 19 years of age against England in 1991 alongside another teenager, the combative centre Scott Gibbs. England dominated an uninspired game but Jenkins did have the consolation of scoring his first three points courtesy of a penalty. Against Ireland in the same season he also scored his first try and first drop goal, but committed a defensive blunder to allow a try to Brendan Mullin. Neil was then fortunate perhaps to miss out on Wales' disastrous World Cup campaign, the fly half slot having been taken by Mark Ring. (Jon Collins)

After such a poor year in 1991 Wales recovered slightly the following season with Neil scoring the bulk of his team's points. First up was a 16-15 defeat of Ireland where Jenkins notched up 9 points, followed by a 12-9 loss to France where he was his side's only scorer with three penalties. Wales were then whitewashed 24-0 by England and then ended the campaign with a 15-12 win over Scotland where Neil was again the only contributor to the Welsh scoreboard. The 1993 campaign was fairly indifferent, though he was able to convert Ieuan Evans try in Wales opening match, a famous 10-9 win against England in Cardiff. Against Ireland the same season he scored nine points, but missed seven kicks at goal and the Welsh went down 14-19. Jenkins then enjoyed a successful tour of southern Africa and reached a century of points against Namibia in what was only his fifteenth test.

The 1994 season was one of Neil's best and he played in twelve tests in total, including all four matches of a successful Five Nations campaign and World Cup qualifing campaign. Neil helped Wales begin their quest for a first title since 1988 by scoring 15 points in a 29-6 victory over Scotland, and then scored all his sides points in a 17-15 win over Ireland. The victory saw Neil score four penalties and a try that followed scrum half Rupert Moon's intelligent pass. It was also in this match that Neil moved passed Phil Bennett's Welsh record of 166 points in only his nineteenth match. Victory over France set up a Grand Slam attempt, but Wales were beaten 15-8 by England at Twickenham, though they did win the Championship on points difference. Neil celebrated by spending the rest of the year scoring points wherever he went against the likes of Portugal (22), Tonga (18) and Italy (24). In the autumn, his penalty kick also gave Wales an unexpected 12-10 lead against South Africa but Chester Williams try eventually settled matters and the Springboks won 20-12. (Jon Collins)

Wales entered the 1995 season with high hopes having won the Championship the year before, but despite such expectations, the team vastly underachieved. Indeed, the Welsh endured the humiliation of going from Champions to wooden spoonists in just one season, and performed poorly at the World Cup in South Africa where they failed to progress from the pool stages for the second consecutive tournament. The Five Nations campaign opened with a 21-9 loss to France in which Neil landed three penalties, and he then hit three more in a 23-9 defeat at the hands of England in Cardiff. Wales then lost to Scotland before sealing the wooden spoon with a 16-12 defeat by Ireland. The World Cup then proved to be a humiliating experience as Wales, third place winners in 1987, crashed out at the group stage and won only one game. Indeed, after defeating Japan 50-28 (a match that saw Neil score 22 points) Wales were hammered 34-9 by eventually finalists New Zealand and eventually shown the door by Ireland to the tune of 24-23.

Later in the year Wales were beaten 40-11 by World Cup winners South Africa in what was Wales Australian coach Alec Evans final match in charge. However, Neil's two penalties took him past the 400 mark, meaning that he was now averaging 80 points a season since his debut. Then, in a 19-15 win over Fiji in Cardiff, Neil produced one of rugby's classic moments when he mimicked a move by Welsh legend Keith Jarrett. Neil fooled everyone into thinking he was about to take a penalty, and then as the sand carrier was walking onto the field, he tapped the ball quickly and dived over for a great opportunist try. Neil's appearances in the 1996 Five Nations were curtailed by injury and the presence of Swansea's Arwel Thomas at stand off and he played in just one match. However, he battled back and played in seven further tests that year. (Jon Collins)

The year of 1997 was perhaps Neil's best ever, solely due to his match winning performance for the Lions in the second test in South Africa. Before that Neil endured mixed fortunes in the Five Nations where he played some matches at fullback, a position he would also occupy for the Lions. On the plus side, Neil scored a try against Scotland which helped him break the 500 point barrier in test matches and also made him the highest points scorer in Five Nations history. However, he would rather forget incidents such as his blunder against France that resulted in a try to Laurent Leflammand and the broken arm he suffered in the first fifteen minutes of the match at Cardiff against England. The arm healed in time for the Lions tour where Neil found inspirational form with the boot in the second test. The first match was won due to tries by Matt Dawson and Alan Tait, meaning that the South Africans had to win the second to stay in the series.

However, with the Lions defending superbly and Jenkins capitalising on opposition errors with five penalties, the match was level at 15-15 close to the end. It was then that Jeremy Guscott achieved Lions immortality with his winning drop goal. Jenkins would later recall of the match; "I had never felt an atmosphere like the one in Durban before. We had won the First Test, so we were pretty hyped up when we ran out for the second one, but when South Africa ran out I thought they were going to run right through the stadium at the other end, they were so up for it. They threw everything at us, but our defence was superb with Dallaglio and Gibbs tackling everything. How we won that match I will never know." As a sidenote, in addition to his heroics on the field, Neil also played his part in the entertainment that form part of all major rugby tours - "Court Sessions". Indeed, as part of the tomfoolery, Jenkins gave a superb impression of Prince Ruprecht from the Michael Caine film "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels", complete with eyepatch and fork! 1997 was also memorable for Neil in that he helped his club side Pontypridd win the Welsh league title. (Jon Collins)