| Birth name | Leon Scott Quinnell | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Date of birth | (1972-08-20)20 August 1972 (age 52) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Morriston,Swansea,Glamorgan, Wales | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 18 st 13 lb (120 kg) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| School | Graig Comprehensive School | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Notable relative(s) | Derek Quinnell (father) Craig Quinnell (brother) Gavin Quinnell (brother) Barry John (uncle)[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Rugby league career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Playing information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Position | Prop, Second-row | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Scott Quinnell (born 20 August 1972) is a Welsh former dual-coderugby union andrugby league player who played in the 1990s and 2000s. He was anumber 8 for Wales,Llanelli RFC,Llanelli Scarlets,Richmond and theBritish & Irish Lions in rugby union. He won 52 caps for Wales (seven as captain) and three for the Lions, and scored 11 international tries for Wales and one for the Lions.[2][3][4]
In 1994 he changedrugby football codes fromrugby union torugby league when he transferred fromLlanelli RFC toWigan, and played two seasons, winning a league championship and two caps forWales.[5]
Scott was born inMorriston,Swansea,Glamorgan,Wales. He is the son of former Welsh internationalDerek Quinnell. His two brothersCraig andGavin played professional rugby union. Gavin lost the sight in one eye after an incident in a 2010 match. The brothers are also nephews of Welsh internationalBarry John,[1] and Quinnell'sgodfather wasMervyn Davies.
Quinnell first joined theLlanelli juniors aged 8 and he made his début as an 18-year-old back in 1990 againstPen-y-groes. He went on to represent Llanelli on 146 occasions, scoring 69 tries.
Quinnell first played for Wales as a blindside flanker in a 26–24 defeat againstCanada in 1993. He was part of the 1994 Five Nations-winning Welsh team and was man of the match in Wales' 24–15 victory overFrance that year with a try and a breakaway to set up another try.
He switched torugby league in 1994, joiningWigan.[6] He stayed with Wigan for two years, and during this time he won the league. Quinnell played loose forward in Wigan's 25–16 victory overSt. Helens in the1996 Regal Trophy final.[7] He also represented Wales in the1995 Rugby League World Cup. He said that the toughest game of rugby he ever played was the quarter-final againstWestern Samoa.[8] Wales went out to England 25–10 in the semi-finals.
Quinnell returned to rugby union withRichmond in 1996. He was selected for the 1997 Lions tour of South Africa. but a double hernia operation forced him to leave the tour and he was replaced byTony Diprose.[9]
He came back to his belovedStradey Park in 1998. During the 1998–99 season he did no conditioning work at all as he had rheumatoid arthritis in his left knee. For seven years he played through the pain barrier with the condition that seemed likely to end his career.
He was part of a Welsh team that won eight straight games before the 1999 World Cup and then reached the World Cup quarter-finals where they went out 24–9 to the eventual winnersAustralia. He captained Wales for the first time in a 23–13 defeat bySouth Africa at theMillennium Stadium. Quinnell played his last game for Wales as a replacement in a 32–21 win over Canada in 2002 after winning 52 caps.
He was again selected for the 2001 Lions tour to Australia where he played in all three tests, and scored a try in the first test inBrisbane.
After the Welsh domestic game went regional in 2003, he appeared 59 times for the Scarlets, scoring 32 tries. He was part of the Llanelli Scarlets team that won theCeltic League title in 2004.
Quinnell announced his retirement from rugby union at the end of the 2004–05 season in order to concentrate on his role as coach of the Llanelli RFCWelsh Premier Division team. A hand injury suffered in March 2005 forced him to end his career a few weeks prematurely. He played his final game in atestimonial match with fellow retireeRob Howley at theMillennium Stadium. Quinnell's Britain & Ireland selection lost 57–67 to Howley's Rest of the World side.
Quinnell currently regularly appears as a commentator and pundit on a number ofSky Sports televised rugby matches. He is also a People's Postcode Lottery ambassador and appears on the adverts. He is a co-presenter and coach (withWill Greenwood) of Sky'sSchool of Hard Knocks TV series. He has had a recurring guest role as himself in theSky 1 TV comedy seriesStella. In 2017 he co-wrote (with psychologist Paul Boross) the bookLeader On The Pitch, with a foreword written by Sir Clive Woodward.
In 2020, he participated inIaith ar Daith ('Language Road Trip'), a show forS4C where he and several other celebrities learnedWelsh, broadcast in April 2020. An extra episode,Iaith ar Daith 'Dolig ('Language Road Trip: Christmas') was broadcast at the end of 2020, interviewing each of the celebrities about whether they were still making use of their Welsh and the opportunities they had had to use Welshduring lockdown.[10]
Quinnell is married to Nicola, and the couple have three children. Having lived all of his life in Llanelli, in early 2009 in light of his increased media commitments, the family moved toKenilworth,Warwickshire, although they have since moved back toSouth Wales to asmallholding nearUsk.[11]
Quinnell isdyslexic, but was not diagnosed until his early 30s, when his lack of ability to read and write was correctly diagnosed. Having undertaken a series of therapies to resolve the condition, as of 2010, Quinnell is a popular speaker on the matter. He has represented the Welsh Dyslexia Project, and also completed an autobiography[12] as part of the Accent Press Quick Reads series.
In August 2007 Quinnell was treated for serious injuries after slipping whilst entering a shower and falling through a glass shower door at his then home near Llanelli. He was taken toWest Wales General Hospital inCarmarthen with a severed righttriceps, and glass embedded in his right arm, hand and knee.[13]
In 2017, Quinnell published a book on business leadership with Paul Boross.[14]
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