Neil Jenkins, (born 8 July 1971) is a Welsh former rugby union player and current coach. He played fly-half, centre, or full back for Pontypridd, Cardiff, Celtic Warriors, Wales and the British & Irish Lions. Jenkins is Wales' highest ever points-scorer and is the fourth highest on the List of leading rugby union test point scorers. He was the first player to score 1,000 points in international matches. In 2004 Jenkins joined the coaching staff of the Wales national rugby union team and is the kicking skills coach. Early life Jenkins was born in Church Village near Pontypridd, Wales to a scrap dealer and his wife. He attended Llanilltud Faerdref primary school and then Bryn Celynnog Comprehensive School in Beddau. Career Jenkins joined Pontypridd in 1990, making his First XV debut on 14 April. He made his Wales debut aged 19 on 19 January 1991 against England during the Five Nations Championship in Cardiff, a game that Wales lost 25–6, but Jenkins scored his first three points thanks to a penalty. After the Five Nations campaign, Jenkins missed out on a place in the Welsh World Cup squad – the number ten position having been taken up by Mark Ring. Jenkins' main strength was his kicking, although he was deceptively quick in his early career. Despite this, he still received tremendous criticism and many felt that he was not worthy enough to inherit the Welsh number 10 shirt of Barry John, Phil Bennett and Cliff Morgan, leading Jenkins to tailor his game to the demands of the modern game. He developed his tackling, passing and running skills, especially under the coaching of Graham Henry, and became an excellent distributor of the ball, notably his excellent flat passes, and also a strong runner. In November 1993 he managed an international record eight successful penalty kicks at goal in Wales's 24-26 defeat to Canada. At the age of just 23, he passed Paul Thorburn to become Wales's record Test point scorer in a 29-19 win against Italy, in which he also equalled the record of 24 points in a game he had set against Canada. Jenkins went on the 1997 British Lions tour to South Africa, playing full back in all three tests. His accurate goalkicking enabled the Lions to beat the Springboks during the first two tests, and thus secure the series 2–1. Across all three Tests he managed 41 points,