Justin Tipuric
Cap No 1087
Justin Tipuric is the latest, and one of the greatest, rugby stars to come off the production line at Cwmtawe Comprehensive School and Trebanos RFC. He has followed in the footsteps of Bleddyn Bowen, Rob Jones and Arwel Thomas in playing for Wales. He played for Wales Under 18 in 2007 and then won 18 caps for Wales U20 over the next two seasons, scoring eight tries, six of which came at the 2009 tournament in Japan. He also played for Wales Sevens on the World Series and represented Team Wales at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
His Ospreys debut came as a replacement in an LV= Cup home defeat to Northampton Saints on 5 November, 2009, and he has now played more than 170 times for his home region, including starting in the 2012 Magners League title win over Leinster in Dublin in May, 2012. He was made Ospreys captain for the 2018/19 season.
He was included in the Wales World Cup training squad in May, 2011, and made his senior Wales debut as a replacement against Argentina on 20 August, 2011. He didn’t make the squad for the tournament in New Zealand, but was back in the side for the post-World Cup clash with Australia in December that year.
His Six Nations debut came as a replacement in the win over Ireland in Dublin at the start of the 2012 Grand Slam campaign and he then started the game in Italy. He toured Australia in the summer of 2012, playing in two of the three Tests and returned Down Under a year later with the British & Irish Lions after helping Wales to secure back-to-back 6 Nations titles in 2013, starting in three of the five games.
He was picked to tour with the British & Irish Lions in 2013 won a Lions Test cap in the decisive third Test in Sydney in 2013 when he came on to replace Welsh team mate Taulupe Faletau in the 55th minute of the 41-16 triumph. He was the 10th Welsh player to take part in the match and featured in six matches on the trip, including the opening match against the Barbarians in Hong Kong. His form in 2017 was good enough to earn him a second tour with the Lions to New Zealand, where he played in five provincial matches.
He started in nine of Wales’ record run of 14 successive victories in 2018-19, including four in the 2019 Grand Slam success. He captained Wales in the final pool game against Uruguay in the 2019 Rugby World Cup.
