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 winners Australia. He captained Wales for the first time in a 23–13 defeat by South Africa at the Millennium 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 in Brisbane. 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 the Celtic 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 RFC Welsh 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 a testimonial match with fellow retiree Rob Howley at the Millennium Stadium. Quinnell's Britain & Ireland selection lost 57–67 to Howley's Rest of the World side. After retirement Quinnell currently regularly appears as a commentator and pundit on a number of Sky 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 (with Will Greenwood) of Sky's School of Hard Knocks TV series. He has had a recurring guest role as himself in the Sky 1 TV comedy series Stella. In 2017 he co-wrote (with psychologist Paul Boross) the book Leader On The Pitch, with a foreword written by Sir Clive Woodward. In 2020, he participated in ('Language Road Trip'), a show for S4C where he and several other celebrities learned Welsh, broadcast in April 2020. An extra episode, ('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 Welsh during lockdown. Personal life Quinnell is married to Nicola, and the