 | SCOTT GIBBS PROFILE Born: 23/1/71 in Bridgend Height: 5ft 10in Weight: 13st 11lbs Caps: Wales 53 (10 tries);
Lions 5 (3 tours) |
The retirement of Wales and Lions centre Scott Gibbs sees the end of one of the finest careers to straddle both rugby union and league. Gibbs quit Test rugby in 2001 having played 53 Tests for Wales, scoring 10 tries in the process, while he also graced three tours with the British and Irish Lions.
He thrilled crowds in the 13-man code with St Helens and Wales over two years, winning a Challenge Cup in the process, before returning to union an even better player than when he'd left.
Gibbs made his Wales debut against England in Cardiff on January 1991, and probably enjoyed his finest moment in a Wales shirt against the same old enemy in 1999.
Trailing England by six points at their temporary Wembley home with full time looming, Wales looked down and out.
Then Gibbs picked an immaculate running line back against the grain to burst through the England midfield, leaving a swathe of white shirts in his wake as he crossed for a try.
Neil Jenkins held his nerve with the conversion for a famous 32-31 win, which denied England the last ever Five Nations Championship and handed it to Scotland.
But Gibbs finest moment in a red shirt came for the Lions during the second Test of the victorious 1997 tour in South Africa, for which he was named Man of the Series.
The Lions arrived in Durban already 1-0 up in the three-Test series after a narrow win in Cape Town.
The Springboks were fired up and out for revenge, and most spectators expected a fearsome backlash at King's Park that would level the series.
Jeremy Guscott's late drop-goal won it for the Lions on the scoreboard, but Gibbs was the inspiration for the rest of his team-mates that day.
 Scott Gibbs' rugby career is full of trophies and tributes |
Fierce in defence and fiercer in attack, Gibbs' contribution was encapsulated in one awesome, memorable moment.
The bullocking centre took yet another inside crash ball and headed straight at the huge figure of Os Du Randt.
The man dubbed "The Ox" was one of the most fearsome props in world rugby, yet Gibbs sent all 19-stone of him crashing backwards.
The Bridgend-born player first came to prominence as a 19-year-old at Neath and soon caught the eyes of the Wales selectors.
But a sickening leg injury suffered in 1994 when playing for the Barbarians against New Zealand threatened to end his playing days.
Gibbs endured a long and difficult rehabilitation, made harder by having to pay for his own scans and treatment as his plight was ignored by Wales and the Barbarians.
In the summer of 1994, disillusioned with rugby union, he switched codes and signed for league side St Helens.
His high point in the 13-man code came in 1996 when Saints beat Bradford at Wembley - the future scene for his 1999 triumph - to lift the Challenge Cup.
His time in league reshaped Gibbs physically and mentally into a player described famously as a 'pocket battleship' and 'the fastest prop in world rugby'.
Whatever the description by his peers, Gibbs stands comparison alongside any of the great inside centres.
When union went professional soon after his Challenge Cup win, Gibbs returned 'home' to south Wales to join Swansea.
Gibbs led the All Whites to the Welsh Cup in 1999 and the Welsh-Scottish League title in 2001.
He supported the transition to five regional teams last year and it was only natural that he should join the Ospreys - a blending of his current club Swansea and former side Neath.
Gibbs was named captain of the Ospreys in the summer but success on the field has eluded them in their first season, while Gibbs has endured a string of injuries that have kept him sidelined.
With his 33rd birthday arriving on Friday, Gibbs has decided to call it quits and rugby union will be the poorer for his departure.
MMIX
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